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THE 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


The  right  of  Translation  is  reserved. 


i  Jteit-  UK 
"» 


I    1 


H.  O  M[  1, 


<x 


HALL.  ViRTtJE 


THE 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD ; 


IMPEESSIONS    OF   AMERICA. 


BY 


FREDRIKA  BREMER. 


TRANSLATED  BY  MARY  HOWITT. 


"  SING  UNTO  THE   LORD  A   NEW  SOXG."— Psalm  XCVi. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES. 
YOL.  I. 


LONDON: 

AETHUR   HALL,   VIETTJE,   &   CO. 

25,  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 

1853. 


LONDON  : 
BRADBURY  AND  EVANS,    PRINTERS,    WHITEFRIARS. 


Bg 


v,  / 


TO  THE  EEADEE. 

THE  only  excuse  for  troubling  thee  with  so  long  a 
correspondence  is,  that  if  it  had  not  been  published  in  this 
manner,  it  would  not  have  been  published  at  all.  And 
ray  excuse  for  publishing  it  at  all  is  that,  for  many 
reasons — I  would  not  abstain  from  doing  so. 

In  placing  these  letters  in  thy  hand,  dear  reader,  I 
should  wish  that  thy  mind  might  be  favourably  disposed 
toward  them,  or  at  least,  might  not  be  in  opposition  to 
the  spirit  in  which  these  letters  were  first  written.  They 
need  it  more  than  anything  which  I  have  yet  written, 
because,  I  cannot  conceal  it  from  myself,  they  suffer  from 
— egotism — the  offence  of  all  autobiography.  This, 
whilst  it  may  not  offend  the  sympathetic  feelings  of  a 
brother  or  sister,  may  easily  offend  the  stranger  who  does 
not  partake  in  them.  Much  therefore  in  the  letters  which 
referred  to  myself,  and  which  was  personally  agreeable  to 
me,  has  been  omitted  in  their  transcription  for  the  press, 
but  not  all,  otherwise  the  ingenuous  character  of  the 
letters  must  have  been  sacrificed,  together  with  the 


vi  TO  THE  READER. 

peculiar  colouring  of  my  life  and  its  circumstances  in 
America.  Much  remains  of  that  which  individually 
pleased  or  annoyed  me — perhaps  more  than  should  have 
remained.  Whilst  transcribing  these  letters  I  have  often 
been  unable  to  realise  to  myself  that  I  was  then  preparing 
them  for  the  public,  and  not  writing  them  merely  to  my 
sister,  "  my  innermost,"  to  whom  even  the  innermost 
might  be  revealed,  and  the  most  childish  things  be  spoken. 
As  soon  as  I  began  to  write,  that  sister  always  stood 
before  me,  with  her  mild,  heavenly  eyes,  her  indulgent 
smile,  intercepting  the  view  of  my  unknown  readers.  I 
saw  only  her,  I  forgot  them.  I  know  that  I  have  often 
erred  in  this  way,  and  especially,  in  the  earlier  portion 
of  these  collected  letters,  during  a  time  when  illness 
rendered  me  weak,  and  weakness  strengthened  egotism. 
If  I  have  allowed  this  illness  to  remain  too  prominent  in 
this  portion  of  the  letters,  there  is,  however,  this  excuse 
for  it,  that  it  is  a  malady,  which  is  very  prevalent 
in  America,  which  is  caused  by  the  climate,  the  general 
diet  and  mode  of  life,  and  against  which  both  natives  and 
emigrants  cannot  be  sufficiently  cautioned.  And  if  I  have 
said  too  much  about  this  malady  and  its  causes,  other 
authors,  on  the  contrary,  have  said  too  little.  It  is  the 
most  dangerous  monster  of  the  New  World.  In  extreme 
cases  it  leads  to  the  madhouse  or  to  death.  Happy  they 
who  know  how  to  avoid  it,  or  who,  at  the  commencement, 
find,  as  I  did,  a  good  physician,  who,  by  the  united  powers 
of  diet  and  medicine,  is  able  to  avert  the  malady  before  it 
gains  too  much  ascendancy. 


TO  THE  READER.  vii 

I  have  in  the  letters  to  my  sister  preserved  the  endear 
ing  epithets  as  they  were  originally  written,  and  which  we 
in  Sweden  make  use  of  among  relatives  or  dear  friends ; 
although  many  readers  may  think  them  somewhat  childish. 
I  cannot  help  it.  I  have  attempted  to  exclude  them  and 
to  substitute  others  more  befitting,  but  I  could  not  succeed ; 
such  appeared  stiff,  unnatural  and  prosaic.  Better  the 
childish  than  the  prosaic,  thought  I ;  and  the  little  words 
will,  I  trust,  be  overlooked  for  the  sake  of  the  great 
matter,  which,  without  any  merit  of  mine,  is  yet  contained 
in  these  letters. 

And  if,  dear  reader,  thou  hast  now  and  then  patience 
with  the  letter-writer  when  she  speaks  in  sickness  of 
body,  or  in  the  foolishness  of  affection,  thou  wilt  be 
rewarded  by  being  led,  in  her  healthier  and  stronger 
moments,  as  by  a  sisterly  hand,  into  a  more  familiar  and 
cordial  intimacy  with  that  great  country  beyond  the 
Atlantic,  with  its  people,  its  homes,  and  its  inner  life, 
than  might  otherwise  have  been  the  case ;  and  this  thou 
wilt  find  is  worth  all  the  trouble. 

I  know  the  faults  of  my  work,  a  knowledge  often 
painful  to  me,  better  than  my  reader,  or  any  one  else. 
And  this  knowledge  would  depress  me,  if  I  did  not  know 
at  the  same  time,  that  all  which  is  best  in  this  work  will 
contribute  in  bringing  nearer  to  each  other  the  good 
homes  of  the  New  World,  and  the  good  homes  of  Europe, 
and  above  all  those  of  my  native  land ;  in  bringing  the 
noble,  warm  hearts  there,  nearer  to  those  which  beat 


viii  TO  THE  READER, 

here,  and  thus,  as  far  as  I  am  able,  aid  in  knitting 
together  the  beautiful'  bonds  of  brotherhood  between 
widely-sundered  nations. 

Mayst  thou,  dear  reader,  feel  the  same,  and  let  this 

reconcile  thee  to  the — 

LETTER-WRITER. 


TO  MY  AMEEICAN  FKIENDS. 

STOCKHOLM,  May,  1853. 

THESE  letters  were  written  in  your  homes  whilst  I  lived 
there  with  you,  as  a  sister  with  her  brothers  and  sisters ; 
in  the  North,  in  the  West,  in  the  South,  of  your  great 
country.  They  were  written  during  familiar  intercourse 
with  you.  And  without  you  they  would  not  have  been 
what  they  now  are,  for  without  you  I  could  not  have  become 
acquainted  with  the  Homes  of  the  New  World,  nor  have 
been  able  from  your  sacred  peaceful  hearths  to  contem 
plate  social  life  beyond.  To  you,  therefore,  I  inscribe 
these  Letters.  They  will  bear  witness  to  you  of  me,  and 
of  my  life  among  you.  You  said  to  me, — 

"  We  hope  that  you  will  tell  us  the  truth." 

You  wished  nothing  else  from  me.  I  have  endeavoured 
to  fulfil  your  wishes.  Be  you  my  judges  ! 

That  which  I  saw  and  found  in  the  New  World  has 
been  set  down  in  these  letters.  They  are,  for  the  most 
part,  outpourings  from  heart  to  heart ;  from  your  homes 
to  my  home  in  Sweden.  When  I  wrote,  I  little  thought 


x  TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS. 

of  committing  them  to  the  press,  little  thought  of  writing 
a  book  in  America,  least  of  all  in  these  letters,  and  of 
that  they  bear  internal  evidence.  Had  such  a  thought  been 
present  with  me,  they  would  have  been  different  to  what 
they  are  ;  they  would  have  been  less  straightforward  and 
natural ;  more  polished,  more  attired  for  company,  but 
whether  better — I  cannot  say.  My  mind  in  America  was 
too  much  occupied  by  thoughts  of  living,  to  think  of 
writing  about  life.  Life  was  overpowering. 

The  idea  of  writing  letters  on  America  did  not  occur 
to  me  until  I  was  about  to  leave  the  great  land  of 
the  West,  and  the  feeling  became  more  and  more  strong 
in  me,  that  what  I  had  seen  and  experienced  during  these 
two  years'  journeyings  was  not  my  own  property  alone, 
but  that  I  had  a  duty  to  fulfil  as  regarded  it.  I  had,  it  is 
true,  a  presentiment  from  the  first  that  the  great  New 
World  would  supply  me  with  many  subjects  for  thought,  to 
be  made  use  of  at  some  future  time,  perhaps  even  in  books, 
but  in  what  manner,  in  what  books — of  that  I  had  no  dis 
tinct  idea.  I  confess  to  you  that  I  went  about  in  America 
with  the  thought  of  metamorphosing  the  whole  of 
America  in — a  novel ;  and  you,  my  friends,  into  its  heroes 
and  heroines  :  but  that  with  such  subtle  delicacy,  that 
none  of  you  should  be  able  to  recognise  either  America  or 
yourselves. 

But  the  realities  of  your  great  country  could  not  be 
compressed  into  a  novel.  The  novel  faded  away  like  a 
rainbow  in  the  clouds,  and  the  reality  stood  only  the 
stronger  forward,  in  all  its  largeness,  littleness,  pleasant 
ness,  sorrow,  beauty,  completeness,  manifold  and  simple, 


TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS.  xi 

in  one  word,  in  all  its  truth  ;  and  I  felt  that  my  best  work 
would  be  merely  a  faithful  transcript  of  that  truth.  But 
how  that  was  to  be  accomplished  I  did  not  clearly  know 
when  I  left  America. 

"  You  will  understand,  you  will  know  it  all  when  you 
are  at  home  !  "  frequently  said  that  precious  friend  who 
first  met  me  on  the  shore  of  the  New  "World,  whose  home 
was  the  first  into  which  I  was  received,  whom  I  loved  to 
call  my  American  brother,  and  who  beautified  my  life 
more  than  I  can  tell  by  the  charm  of  his  friendship,  by  the 
guidance  of  his  keen  intellect  and  his  brotherly  kindness 
and  care ;  whose  image  is  for  ever  pictured  in  my  soul  in 
connection  with  its  most  beautiful  scenes,  its  romantic 
life,  its  Indian  summer,  and,  above  all,  its  highland 
scenery  on  that  magnificent  river,  where  he  had  built  his 
delightful  home,  and  now — has  his  grave  !  Yet  no,  not 
alone  in  connection  with  these  pictures  does  he  live  before 
me  ;  time  and  space  do  not  contain  a  character  such  as 
his.  To-day,  as  yesterday,  and  in  eternity,  shall  I  perceive 
his  glance,  his  voice,  his  words,  as  they  were  once  present 
with  me ;  they  are  united  with  all  that  is  beautiful  and 
noble  in  the  great  realm  of  creation.  His  words  are  a 
guide  to  me  as  well  in  Sweden  as  they  were  in  America. 
I  love  to  recal  every  one  of  them. 

"  You  will  know  it  all  when  you  come  into  your  own 
country,"  said  he  with  reference  to  many  questions,  many 
inquiries,  which  at  my  departure  from  America  were  dark 
to  my  understanding. 

The  thought  of  publishing  the  letters  which  I  had 
written  home  from  America,  as  they  first  flowed  from  my 


xii  TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS. 

pen  on  the  paper,  or  as  nearly  so  as  possible,  did  not 
occur  to  me  until  several  months  after  my  return,  when 
with  a  feeble  and  half-unwilling  hand  I  opened  these 
letters  to  a  beloved  sister  who  was  now  no  longer  on 
earth.  I  confess  that  the  life  which  they  contained 
reanimated  me,  caused  my  heart  to  throb  as  it  had  done 
when  they  were  written,  and  I  could  not  but  say  to  myself, 
"  These,  the  offspring  of  the  moment,  and  warm  feeling,  are, 
spite  of  all  their  failings,  a  more  pure  expression  of  the 
truth  which  my  friends  desire  from  me,  and  which  I  wish  , 
to  express,  than  any  which  I  could  write  with  calm 
reflection  and  cool  hand."  And  I  resolved  to  publish  the 
letters  as  they  had  been  inspired  by  the  impression  of  the 
moment,  and  have  on  their  transcription  merely  made 
some  omissions  and  occasional  additions.  The  additions 
have  reference  principally  to  historical  and  statistical  facts 
which  I  found  passingly  touched  upon  in  the  letters  or  in 
my  notes,  and  which  are  now  amplified.  The  omissions 
are  of  such  passages  as  refer  to  my  OWTL  affairs  or  those  of 
others,  and  which  I  considered  as  of  too  private  or  too 
delicate  a  nature  to  bear  publicity.  I  have  endeavoured 
in  my  communications  from  private  life  not  to  overstep 
the  bounds  which  a  sense  of  honour  and  delicacy  pre 
scribed;  nor  to  introduce  anything  which  it  would  be 
undesirable  to  publish,  either  as  regarded  confidential 
communication  or  the  names  of  individuals.  I  am  deeply 
sensible  of  the  requirements  of  delicacy  in  this  respect ; 
and  nothing  would  be  more  painful  to  me  than  to  feel 
that  from  want  of  due  circumspection  I  had  failed 
herein. 


TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS.  xiii 

I  fear,  nevertheless,  that  some  of  my  friends  may  feel 
their  delicacy  wounded  by  the  praise  which  I  could  not 
always  withhold.  They  must  forgive  me  for  my  love's 
sake  ! 

I  have  lived  in  your  country  and  your  homes  with  no 

F 
ordinary  affection  ; — your  homes  received  me  there  in  no 

ordinary  manner.  If  the  heaped-up  measure  sometimes 
ran  over,  it  was  less  my  fault  than — yours.  Ah  !  ,The 
deeds  of  selfishness  and  of  hatred  ring  every  day  in 
our  ears  with  the  names  of  those  who  practise  them. 
Let  us  preserve  then  other  names  to  be  conveyed 
round  the  world  on  the  wings  of  spring  and  love,  that 
like  a  heavenly  seed  they  may  take  root  in  the  earth, 
and  cause  all  the  best  feelings  of  the  soul  to  blossom. 
The  heart  sometimes  is  ready  to  doubt  of  goodness 
and  its  power  on  earth, — it  must  see  before  it  can 
believe.  I  would  hereby  aid  it  in  this  respect.  I  have 
spoken  of  you.* 

The  best,  the  most  beautiful,  in  your  hearts  and  in  your 
homes  has,  after  all,  not  been  revealed.  I  know  that 
within  the  human  heart  and  home,  as  in  the  old  temple  of 
the  older  covenant,  there  is  a  holy  of  holies  upon  whose 
golden  ark  the  countenances  of  the  cherubim  may  alone 
gaze  and  read  the  tables  of  the  covenant. 

I  have  followed  my  own  convictions  in  that  which  I  have 
censured  or  criticised  in  your  country  and  your  people. 
That  which  I  myself  have  seen,  heard,  experienced,  felt,  \ 

*  In  the  English  and  American  editions  the  initials  of  the  names  are 
merely  given,  where  the  names  belong  to  private  individuals.  I  have 
however  considered  this  veiling  of  my  friends  to  be  superfluous  in  the 
Swedish,  where  in  any  case  their  names  merely  sound  as  a  remote  echo. 


xiv  TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS. 

thought,  that  have  I  written,  without  fearing  anything, 
excepting  any  error  as  regards  truth  and  justice. 

But  when  you  read  these  letters,  my  friends,  have 
patience,  if  possible,  till  the  end  ;  and  remember  that 
these  are  often  the  impression  of  the  moment,  which 
later  impressions  mature  or  change. 

Consider  them  as  digits,  which  you  must  go  through 
before  you  are  able  to  combine  them  into  a  whole. 
Four  of  the  letters,  those,  namely,  to  H.  C.  Orsted,  to 
I.  P.  Bocklin,  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  Dowager  of 
Denmark,  and  to  H.  Martensen,  are  to  be  regarded  as 
resting-places  by  the  way,  from  which  the  ground  which 
has  been  passed  over  is  reviewed,  and  the  path  and  the 
goal  reflected  upon.  Some  repetitions  occur  in  these, 
which  it  was  not  possible  to  avoid.  I  fear  that  some 
repetition  may  also  be  found  in  the  other  letters,  and  it 
might  have  been  avoided.  But  .... 

From  you,  my  friends,  I  hope  for  that  truth  before 
which  it  is  pleasant  to  bow  even  when  it  is  painful. 
Wherever  I  have  erred,  wherever  I  have  formed  a  wrong 
judgment,  I  hope  that  you  will  freely  correct  me.  I  know 
that  you  will  acknowledge  all  that  which  is  good  and  true 
in  what  I  have  written.  I  fear  from  you  no  unjust  judg 
ment.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  found  among  you  the 
gentlest  human  beings,  without  weakness ;  therefore  I 
love  to  be  judged  by  you. 

I  here  return  to  your  beautiful  homes  as  a  spirit, 
reminding  you  of  the  stranger  whom  you  received  as  a 
guest,  and  who  became  a  friend,  to  converse  with  you  of 
former  days  spent  on  your  hearths,  to  thank  and  to  bless 


TO  MY  AMERICAN  FRIENDS.  xv 

you,  and  not  merely  you,  whose  guest  I  was,  but  the  many 
who  benefited  me  in  word  or  deed,  the  warm-hearted, 
noble-minded,  all  those  who  let  me  drink  the  morning- 
dew  of  a  new,  a  more  beautiful  creation,  that  elixir  of  life 
which  gives  new,  youthful  life  to  heart  and  mind.  Words 
are  poor,  and  can  only  feebly  express  the  feelings  of  the 
soul.  May,  however,  somewhat  of  the  life's  joy  which  you 
afforded  me,  again  breathe  forth  from  these  letters  to  you, 
and  convey  to  you  a  better  expression  of  thanks  than 
that  which  can  here  be  uttered  by, — 

Your  guest  and  friend, 

FREDRIKA  BREMER. 


THE 


HOMES   OF   THE   NEW  WORLD, 


LETTEK  I. 


ON  THE  SEA. 

Sept.  23rd,  1849. 

Tins  is,  dearest  Agatha,  my  second  day  on  the  great 
ocean !  And  if  the  voyage  goes  on  as  it  has  begun  I  shall 
not  soon  long  for  land.  The  most  glorious  weather,  the 
/"heaven  and  the  sea  full  of  light,  and  for  a  habitation  on 
my  voyage  to  the  new  world  a  cabin  large  and  splendid 
as  a  little  castle,  and  besides  that,  convenient  in  the 
highest  degree.  And  how  I  enjoy  my  quiet  uninter 
rupted  life  here  on  board,  after  the  exciting  days  in 
England,  where  the  soul  felt  itself  as  on  a  rack,  whilst 
the  body  hurried  hither  and  thither  in  order  to  see  and 
accomplish  that  which  must  be  seen  and  accomplished 
before  I  was  ready  for  my  journey !  For  it  was  requisite 
to  see  a  little  of  England,  and  especially  of  London, 
before  I  saw  America  and  New  York.  I  did  not  wish  to 
be  too  much  overcome  by  New  York,  therefore  I  would 
know  something  of  the  mother  before  I  made  acquaintance 
with  the  daughter,  in  order  to  have  a  point  and  rule  of 
comparison,  that  I  might  correctly  understand  the  type. 
I  knew  that  Sweden  and  Stockholm  were  of  another  race, 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOELD. 

unlike  the  English  country,  and  towns,  people,  manners, 
mode  of  building,  and  so  on.  But  England  had  in  the 
first  place  given  population,  laws,  and  tone  of  mind  to 
the  people  of  the  new  world.  It  was  the  old  world  in 
England  which  must  become  my  standard  of  judgment  as 
regarded  the  new.  For  that  reason  I  came  first  to  England, 
and  to  England  I  shall,  please  God,  return  when  I  have 
finished  my  pilgrimage  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  more  decided  impression,  to  form 
a  conclusive  judgment  before  I  return  home.  "We 
will  expound  together  the  runes  in  the  native  land  of 
runic  lore. 

Now,  however,  I  know  what  London  looks  like,  and  I 
shall  not  be  amazed  by  the  buildings  of  New  York. 

To-day,  Sunday,  has  been  to  me  really  a  festival  day. 
We  have  had  divine  service  on  board,  and  that  was 
good  and  beautiful.  The  passengers,  about  sixty  in 
number,  together  with  the  crew  of  the  vessel,  all  in 
their  best  attire,  assembled  in  the  great  saloon  on  deck. 
The  captain,  a  brisk,  good-looking,  young  officer,  read 
the  sermon  and  prayers,  and  read  them  remarkably  well. 
The  whole  assembly  joined  in  the  prayers  and  responses, 
as  is  customary  in  the  English  episcopal  church.  The 
sun  shone  in  upon  that  gay  assembly  composed  of  so 
many  different  nations. 

To  be  so  solitary,  so  without  countrymen,  kindred  or 
friends,  in  this  assembly,  and  yet  to  know  myself  so 
profoundly  united  with  all  these  in  the  same  life  and  the 
same  prayer, — "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  Heaven!" — it 
affected  me  so  much  that  I  wept  (my  usual  outlet,  as  you 
know,  for  an  overflowing  heart,  in  joy  as  in  grief).  The 
captain  thought  that  I  needed  cheering,  and  came  to 
me  very  kindly  after  the  service.  But  it  was  not  so.  I 
was  happy. 

Since  then  I  have  walked  on  deck,  and  read  a  poem 
called  "  Evangeline,"  a  tale  of  Acadia,  by  the  American 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  3 

poet,  Henry  Longfellow.  The  poem  belongs  to  America, 
to  its  history  and  natural  scenery.  There  is  much 
dramatic  interest  and  life  in  it.  The  end,  however, 
strikes  me  as  melo-dramatic  and  somewhat  laboured. 
The  beginning,  the  descriptions  of  the  primeval  forests 
of  the  new  world,  the  tall  trees  which  stand  like  the  old 
druids  with  long  descending  beards  and  harps,  which 
sound  and  lament  in  the  wind,  is  glorious,  and  is  a 
chord  of  that  fresh  minor  key,  which  pervades  the  whole 
song,  about  the  peaceful  persecuted  people  of  Acadia — a 
beautiful  but  mournful  romance,  and  founded  upon 
history.  This  little  book  was  given  to  me  by  William 
Howitt  on  my  departure  from  England ;  and  thus  I  have 
to  thank  him  for  this  my  first  taste  of  American  literature, 
in  which  I  fancy  I  can  perceive  a  flavour  of  the  life  of  the 
New  World. 

How  pleasant  it  is  to  be  able  to  read  a  little,  and  to  be 
able  to  lie  and  think  a  little  also  !  People  here  show  me 
every  possible  attention ;  first  one  and  then  another  comes 
and  speaks  a  few  words  to  me.  I  answer  politely,  but  I 
do  not  continue  the  conversation  ;  I  have  no  inclination 
for  it.  Among  the  somewhat  above  fifty  gentlemen,  who 
are  passengers  on  board,  there  is  only  one — a  handsome 
old  gentleman — whose  countenance  promises  anything 
of  more  than  ordinary  interest.  Nor  among  the  twelve  or 
thirteen  ladies  either  is  there  anything  remarkably  pro 
mising  or  attractive,  although  some  are  very  pretty  and 
clever.  I  am  very  solitary.  I  have  an  excellent  cabin 
to  myself  alone.  In  the  day  I  can  read  there  by  the 
light  from  the  glass  window  in  the  roof.  In  the  evening 
and  at  night  it  is  lighted  by  a  lamp  through  a  ground 
glass  window  in  one  corner. 

People  eat  and  drink  here  the  whole  day  long ;  table  is 
covered  after  table ;  one  meal-time  relieves  another. 
Everything  is  rich  and  splendid.  Yes,  here  we  live  really 
magnificently;  but  I  do  not  like  this  superabundance, 

B  2 


4  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  the  eternally  long  dinners  are  detestable  to  me ;  all 
the  more  so  sitting  against  a  wall  between  two  gentlemen, 
who  are  as  still  as  mice,  and  do  nothing  but  eat,  although 
one  of  them,  an  Englishman,  might  converse  very  well  if 
he  would.  My  passage -money  is  thirty-five  sovereigns, 
which  includes  everything.  Somewhat  less  in  price, 
and  somewhat  less  to  eat  and  drink,  would  be  more  to 
my  taste. 

Later. — I  have  just  seen  the  sun  go  down  in  the 
sea,  and  the  new  moon  and  stars  come  forth.  •  The 
North  Star  and  Charles's  Wain  have  now  gone  farther 
from  me ;  but  just  above  my  head  I  see  the  cross  and 
the  lyre,  and  near  them  the  eagle  which  we  also  see  at 
home ;  and  with  these  companions  by  the  way  I  cannot 
be  other  than  cheerful.  We  have  the  wind  in  our  favour, 
and  drive  on  our  thundering  career  with  all  sails  set.  If 
we  continue  to  proceed  in  this  way  we  shall  make  the 
voyage  in  from  twelve  to  thirteen  days. 

I  hope,  my  sweet  Agatha,  that  you  regularly  received 
my  two  letters  from  England ;  I  sent  the  last  from 
Liverpool  on  the  morning  before  I  went  on  board.  I  was 
quite  alone  there,  and  had  to  do  and  arrange  everything 
for  myself:  but  all  went  on  right.  I  had  the  sun  with 
me,  and  my  little  travelling  fairy,  and  the  last  dear  letters 
of  my  beloved,  my  passport  to  the  new  world,  and — to  the 
better  world,  if  so  be,  for  they  are  to  me  like  a  good 
conscience.  I  say  nothing  about  my  good  spirits,  but 
you  know  me,  my  darling  :  "  Long  live  Hakon  Jarl !  " 

Thursday. — Five  days  at  sea !  and  we  are  already  more 
than  half-way  to  New  York.  We  have  had  fair  wind 
without  intermission,  and  if  all  goes  on  as  it  has  begun 
we  shall  make  one  of  the  most  rapid  and  most  prosperous 
voyages  which  has  ever  been  made  from  Europe  to 
America.  "  But  one  must  not  boast  till  one  has  crossed 
the  brook."  To-day  when  the  wind  blew  and  the  sea 
heaved  somewhat  roughly,  my  style  of  writing  became 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5 

somewhat  like  Charles  XII. 's  in  his  letter  to  "  mon 
coeur."  I  get  on  capitally,  my  little  heart,  and  do  not 
wish  myself  away,  so  comfortable  am  I  here,  and  so 
animating  and  elevating  appears  to  me  the  spectacle  of 
heaven  and  earth.  Yes,  the  soul  obtains  wings  there 
from  and  raises  herself  upwards,  high  above  the  roar 
ing  deep. 

For  several  days  we  have  seen  no  other  object  than 
heaven  and  sea,  and  circling  sea-birds ;  not  a  sail,  nor 
the  smoke  of  a  steamer.  All  is  vacancy  in  that  immense 
circle  of  space.  But  the  billows,  and  the  sunbeams,  and 
the  wandering  clouds  are  sufficient  company ;  these  and 
my  own  thoughts.  I  stand  and  walk  whole  hours  alone 
on  deck  and  inhale  the  fresh  soft  sea-air,  watch  one 
leviathan  dive  down  and  rise  again  from  the  roaring 
waves,  and  let  niy  thoughts  dive  down  also,  and  circle 
round  like  the  sea-birds  in  the  unknown  distance.  There 
was  always  something  of  the  life  and  joy  of  the  Viking 
in  me,  and  it  is  so  even  now.  Yesterday  was  a  glorious 
day,  it  was  throughout  a  festival  of  beauty  which  I  enjoyed 
unspeakably. 

In  my  early  youth,  when  we  were  many  in  family,  and 
it  was  difficult  to  be  alone,  I  used  sometimes  to  go  and 

0 

lock  myself  in  that  dark  little  room  at  Arsta,  where 
mamma  keeps  her  keys,  merely  that  I  might  feel  myself 
alone,  because  as  soon  as  I  was  quite  alone  in  that  pitch 
darkness,  I  experienced  an  extraordinary  sensation — a 
sensation  as  if  I  had  wings  and  was  lifted  up  by  them  out 
of  my  own  being,  and  that  was  an  unspeakable  enjoyment 
to  me.  That  half -spiritual,  half-bodily  feeling  is  inexpli 
cable  to  me;  but  it  always  returns  when  I  am  quite 
alone  and  altogether  undisturbed  by  agitating  thoughts ; 
as  is  the  case  at  this  time.  I  experience  a  secret,  won 
derful  joy  as  I  stand  thus  alone  among  strangers,  in  the 
midst  of  the  world's  sea,  and  feel  myself  to  be  free  and 
light  as  a  bird  upon  the  bough. 


6  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Yet  it  is  not  this  feeling  alone  which  gives  me  here 
calmness  and,  as  it  were,  wings,  hut  another  which  I  well 
understand,  and  which  is  common  to  all  alike  as  to  me. 
For  whoever  when  alone  in  the  world,  or  in  heart,  can 
from  his  heart  say — Our  Father!  Mine  and  all  men's! 
To  him  will  be  given  rest  and  strength,  sufficient  and 
immortal,  merely  through  this  consciousness. 

Out  of  the  chaotic  group  of  human  countenances,  which 
at  first  met  my  eyes  here,  a  few  figures  have  come  nearer 
to  me,  and  have  acquired  an  interest  for  me  through 
glances,  expression  or  words.  Among  these  is  a  tall 
respectable  clergyman  from  New  York,  by  name  John 
Knox ;  and  who  seems  to  me  to  have  a  little  of  the 
historical  Knox-nature  of  stern  Puritanism,  although 
united  to  much  benevolence.  Besides  him,  a  family 
from  New  York,  also,  consisting  of  an  old  lady,  the 
mother,  with  her  daughter  and  son-in-law — a  handsome 
young  couple,  who  have  for  their  bridal-tour  visited, 
during  eleven  months,  Egypt,  Greece,  Italy,  France,  etc., 
without  having,  in  the  first  instance,  seen  Niagara,  or 
any  of  the  natural  wonders  of  their  own  country,  which 
I  do  not  quite  forgive  in  them.  They  are  now  on 
their  return,  the  old  lady  having  gained  the  knowledge 
"  that  all  human  nature  is  very  much  alike  throughout 
the  world."  This  family,  as  well  as  Mr.  Knox,  are 
Presbyterian,  and  will  not  concede  that  Unitarians  are 
Christians. 

There  is  also  a  couple  of  young  ladies  from  Georgia. 
One  of  them  a  handsome,  married  lady ;  the  other  a  very 

pale  young  girl  with  delicate  features,  Hanna  L , 

clever,  sensible,  and  charming,  with  whom  it  is  a  pleasure 
for  me  to  converse.  Although  belonging  to  a  slave- 
holding  family,  she  condemns  slavery,  and  labours  at 
home  to  make  the  slaves  better  and  happier.  She  is 
consumptive,  and  does  not  expect  to  life  long ;  but  goes 
forward  to  meet  death  with  the  most  contented  mind. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  7 

One  sees  the  future  angel  gleam  forth  from  her  eyes,  but 
the  suffering  mortal  is  seen  in  the  delicate  features. 

Besides  these,  there  are  some  elderly  gentlemen,  with 
respectable  and  trustworthy  countenances,  who  assure 
me  that  I  shall  find  much  pleasure  in  my  journey 
through  the  United  States  ;  and  lastly,  a  couple  of  slave 
holders,  handsome,  energetic  figures,  who  invite  me  to 
the  South,  and  assure  me  that^  I  shall  find  the  slaves 
there  to  be  "  the  most  happy  and  most  enviable 
population ! !  " 

The  days  pass  on  calmly  and  agreeably.  The  only 
objection  I  have  to  the  life  on  board  the  "  Canada,"  is 
the  excess  of  eating  and  drinking. 

Monday,  October  1. — The  tenth  day  on  board.  It  has 
been  somewhat  less  agreeable  during  the  last  few  clays  : 
stormy  and  rough.  We  had  yesterday  what  they  call  "  a 
gale."  I  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  stand  on  deck.  I  was 
not  made  to  be  a  sailor.  We  are  near  Newfoundland.  We 
steer  so  far  northward  to  avoid  the  equinoctial  storms  on 
the  more  southern  ocean.  But  we  have  had  contrary 
winds,  and  considerable  storms  for  some  days,  so  that  wre 
have  not  progressed  as  favourably  as  the  commencement 
promised.  We  shall  not  reach  Halifax  till  to-morrow. 
We  shall  put  in  there  for  a  few  hours  and  send  our 
European  letters  to  the  post  (for  this  reason  I  am  bringing 
mine  into  order),  after  which  we  steer  direct  south  to 
New  York. 

I  am  perfectly  well;  have  not  been  sea-sick  for  a  moment, 
but  cannot  deny  but  that  it  seems  to  me  rather  unpleasant 
when,  in  the  evening  and  at  night,  the  waves  thunder  and 
strike  above  our  heads,  and  the  vessel  heaves  and  strains. 
Fortunately,  the  ladies  are  all  well  and  cheerful ;  and  in 
the  evening  three  of  them  sing,  two  of  whom  met  here  for 
the  first  time  in  the  world ;  the  "  old  lady,"  who,  after  all, 
is  not  so  old — only  about  fifty — and  who  has  a  splendid 
soprano  voice,  and  the  pale  girl  and  her  friend,  with  their 


8  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

clear  voices,  sing  hymns  and  songs  remarkably  well 
together.  It  is  very  charming  and  beautiful.  The  tones 
remain  with  me  at  night  like  consolatory  spirit-voices, 
like  the  moonlight  on  the  swell  of  the  waves. 

Last  night,  when  the  sea  was  rough  and  there  was  even 
some  clanger,  when  every  movable  thing  was  tumbled 
about,  and  I  thought  of  my  home,  and  was  in  "  a  shocking 
humour,"  and  acknowledged  it  even  to  my  fellow-voyagers, 
those  three  voices  sang  hymns  so  exquisitely  till  about 
midnight,  that  every  restless  wave  within  me  hushed 
itself  to  repose.  To-day,  we  have  better  weather  and 
wind,  and  are  all  in  good  spirits.  Some  little  children, 
however,  are  so  sick  that  it  is  pitiable  to  see  them.  This 
next  night  we  shall  come  into  dangerous  water.  One 
of  the  great  steamers,  which  goes  between  Europe  and 
America,  struck  amid  the  surf  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Halifax,  and  suffered  considerable  damage.  But  we  must 
manage  better  than  that.  Our  Captain  Judkins  is  con 
sidered  to  be  a  remarkably  skilful  seaman.  An  excellent, 
good-tempered,  and  kind-hearted  man  is  he  beside  ;  likes 
to  come  and  sit  in  the  saloon  with  the  ladies,  tells  them 
stories,  and  plays  with  the  children. 

I  read  a  deal  here  on  board ;  one  can  get  through  a 
vast  many  books  on  such  an  occasion.  I  have  read 
Chateaubriand's  "  Confessions,"  but  without  much  plea 
sure.  What  can  one  learn  from  an  autobiography  in  which 
the  writer  acknowledges  that  he  will  confess  nothing 
about  himself  which  would  be  derogatory  to  his  dignity. 
It  was  in  a  manner  different  to  this  that  St.  Augustine 
wrote  his  Confessions,  regarding  merely  the  eternal  eye ; 
in  a  different  manner  Rousseau,  great  and  noble,  at  least 
in  his  desire  to  confess  to  the  truth.  Thus  will  I,  some 
time,  shrive  myself.  For  every  object  and  every  consi 
deration  is  mean  except  this,  the  highest.  Chateaubriand's 
French  vanity  spoils,  for  me,  his  book ;  nevertheless,  I 
have  retained  some  glorious  descriptions,  some  occasional 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  9 

profound  word  or  expression,  as  well  as  another  fresh 
conviction  of  the  weakness  of  human  nature. 

I  have  read  here  also  Miss  Martineau's  "  Life  in  the 
East."  I  like  to  study  pictures  of  the  East,  and  of  the 
earliest  period  of  the  cultivation  of  our  race  in  opposition 
to  the  West — that  promised  land  which  I  am  approaching 
with  a  thousand  questions  in  my  soul.  But  I  am  disturbed 
in  Miss  Martineau's  book  by  her  evident  endeavour  to 
force  her  own  religious  opinions  upon  the  life  and  history 
of  antiquity.  Some  great  and  beautiful  thoughts,  never 
theless,  run  through  the  book,  like  a  refreshing  breeze. 
In  them  I  recognise  that  noble  spirit  before  which  I  often 
bowed  myself  in  awe,  and  before  which  I  bowed  last  when 
reading  her  "  Life  in  a  Sick  Boom." 

The  calmest  day  we  have  yet  had  on  board !  And  this 
calm  is  really  beautiful  after  the  last  day's  storm.  Little 
sparrows  swarm  around  our  vessel  in  the  evening,  with 
greetings  from  land.  They  remind  me  of  the  birds  which 
brought  to  Columbus  the  first  intelligence  from  the  shores 
of  the  New  World.  What  must  have  been  his  state  of 
mind  on  seeing  them  ! 

To-morrow  morning,  early,  we  may  set  foot  on  American 
soil  at  Halifax ;  but  as  we  there  fall  in  again  with  "  Old 
England,"  I  take  the  matter  coolly.  I  have  been  on  deck 
for  a  long  time.  Sea  and  sky  are  calm,  and  of  an  uniform 
light  grey,  like  the  everyday  life  of  the  north.  We  leave 
a  broad,  straight  pathway  behind  us  on  the  sea,  which 
seems  to  fade  away  towards  the  horizon. 

I  have  been  annoyed  to-day  by  the  behaviour  of  some 
gentlemen  to  a  little  storm -driven  bird  which  sought  for 
rest  in  our  vessel.  Wearied,  it  settled  down  here  and 
there  upon  our  cordage,  but  was  incessantly  driven  away, 
especially  by  two  young  men,  an  Englishman  and  a 
Spaniard,  who  seemed  to  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  teaze 
this  poor  little  thing  to  death  with  their  hats  and  handker 
chiefs.  It  was  distressing  to  see  how  it  endeavoured 


10  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

again  and  again,  upon  its  wearied  wings,  to  follow  the 
vessel,  and  again  panting  to  alight  upon  its  cordage  or 
masts,  only  to  be  again  driven  away.  I  was  childish 
enough  to  persecute  these  young  men  with  nay  prayers  that 
they  would  leave  this  poor  little  creature  in  peace.  But  it 
was  to  no  purpose,  and  to  my  astonishment,  neither  did  any 
of  the  other  passengers  take  the  little  stranger  under  their 
protection.  I  called  to  mind  that  I  had  seen  in  Swedish 
vessels  little  storm- driven  birds  treated  differently — left 
in  peace,  or  fed  with  bread-crumbs.  The  end  of  the 
pursuit  here  was,  that  after  the  bird  had  left  its  tail  in  the 
hand  of  one  of  its  tormentors,  it  was  soon  taken ;  it  was 
then  put  into  a  dark  cage,  where  it  died  in  a  few  hours. 

I  consider  myself  to  be  far  from  all  excess  of  sensi 
bility  ;  but  nothing  angers  me  more,  among  human 
beings,  than  unnecessary  cruelty  to  animals ;  and  I  know 
that  a  noble  human  nature  abhors  it.  For  the  rest,  I 
deplored  over  the  cruel  children  in  men's  shape,  because 
I  believe  in  a  Nemesis  even  in  little  things ;  and  I  believe 
that  the  hour  may  come  when  these  young  men  may  long 
for  rest,  and  find  none ;  and  that  then  that  hunted 
bird  may  make  itself  remembered  by  them.  When  I 
arrive  in  America  one  of  my  first  visits  shall  be  to 
the  Quakers,  because  I  know  that  one  of  the  beautiful 
traits  of  their  religion  is  mercy  to  animals. 

I  once  was  also  a  cruel  child,  when  I  did  not  under 
stand  what  suffering  was,  and  what  animals  are.  I 
received  my  first  lesson  in  humanity  to  animals  from  a 
young,  lively  officer,  who  afterwards  died  the  death  of  a 
hero  in  the  war  against  Napoleon.  Never  shall  I  forget 
his  reproachful  glance  and  tone,  as  he  said  to  me,  "  The 
poor  worm  ! "  It  is  now  more  than  thirty  years  since  ! 

I  shall,  my  dear  heart !  write  no  more  this  time.  But 
as  soon  as  I  reach  New  York  I  shall  again  write  to  you. 
And  that  which  I  long  for  there,  is  to  hear  from  home. 
It  is  now  so  long  since  I  had  a  letter. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  11 

Many  feelings  stir  within  me  as  I  thus  approach  the  end 
of  my  voyage,  feelings  not  easy  to  describe.  "What  will  be 
the  end  of  it  ?  That  I  do  not  know.  One  thing,  however, 
I  know :  that  I  shall  see  something  new  ;  learn  something 
new ;  forget  that  which  was  of  old ;  and  press  onward  to 
that  which  lies  before  me.  There  is  much  for  me  to  forget, 
and  to  be  renewed.  And  this,  also,  I  know :  that  friends 
will  meet  me  in  that  foreign  land ;  and  that  one  faithful 
friend  comes  to  meet  me  on  the  shore.  That  is  good  ! 

Good  night,  dear  little  sister.  I  embrace  you  and 
mamma ;  kind  greetings  to  relations  and  friends — and 
may  she  live  in  the  new  world,  as  in  the  old, 

Your 

FREDRIKA. 


LETTEE  II. 

NEW  YORK,  October  4th,  1849. 

"  GOOD  morning,  little  sister  mine !  or  rather,  good 
evening  in  the  New  World,  where  I  now  set  firm  foot, 
after  thirteen  days  rocking  on  the  sea.  I  am  lodging  in 
the  Astor  House,  one  of  the  largest  and  best  hotels  of 
New  York,  and  where  the  inhabitants  are  as  numerous 
as  in  the  capital  of  Iceland,  namely,  about  five 
hundred. 

Opposite  to  this  Astor  House  I  see  a  large,  so-called, 
museum,  with  fluttering  banners  and  green  shrubs  on 
the  roof,  and  the  walls  covered  with  immense  paintings, 
representing  "  The  Greatest  Wonders  in  the  World,"  in 
immense,  wonderful  animals,  and  extraordinary  human 
beings,  all  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  house ;  among 
these  I  observe  a  fellow  who  makes  a  summerset  aloft  in 
the  air  out  of  the  yawning  jaws  of  a  whale ;  a  "  salto 
mortale,"  like  the  salt-prophet,  Jonas ;  and  many  such 
like  curiosities,  which  are  still  further  trumpetted  forth 


12  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

by  a  band  of  musicians  from  a  balcony  before  the  house. 
They  play  very  well,  and  the  whole  looks  very  merry. 

In  front  of  the  Astor  House  is  a  green  space,  inclosed 
with  trees,  and  in  the  centre  a  large  fountain,  which 
has  a  refreshing  appearance,  and  there  I  have  refreshed 
myself  by  walking  an  hour  this  afternoon.  Astor 
House  is  situated  in  Broadway,  the  great  high-street  and 
thoroughfare  of  New  York,  where  people  and  carriages 
pour  along  in  one  incessant  stream,  and  in  true  repub 
lican  intermixture.  Long  lines  of  white  and  gilded 
omnibuses  wind  their  way  at  an  uninterrupted,  rapid  rate, 
as  far  as  one  can  see,  amid  thousands  of  other  vehicles, 
great  and  small.  The  broad  side-paths  are  thronged 
with  people  of  all  classes ;  there  are  beautiful  houses, 
and  houses  under  erection ;  splendid  shops,  and  a  heap 
of  horrible  rubbish.  There  is  something  confused  in  this 
Broadway  which  makes  one  feel  a  little  bewildered  in  the 
beginning.  And  thus,  in  the  first  place,  I  merely  think 
of  getting  across  the  street  alive.  That  beautiful  little 
green  plot,  with  its  lovely  fountain,  seems  to  me,  beside 
the  bustling  Broadway,  like  an  oasis  in  the  agitated  sand. 

I  must  now  say  something  of  my  arrival  here. 

I  last  left  you  the  day  before  we  reached  Halifax. 
That  night  was  the  end  of  any  danger  in  our  voyage  ;  for 
it  was  during  a  thick  mist  that  we  approached  the  shore 
and  its  dangerous  surf.  We  were  obliged  every  now  and 
then  to  lie  still.  In  the  morning,  however,  we  were  at 
Halifax,  and  I  saw  the  surf-billows,  like  some  unknown, 
enormous  sea-creatures,  heave  themselves,  roaring  at  a 
distance  around  us.  I  went  on  shore  at  Halifax,  but  only 
to  meet  again  the  worst  features  of  the  old  world,  fog, 
rags,  beggars,  dirty,  screaming  children,  wretched  horses, 
and  such-like.  I  was  glad  to  stay  only  a  few  hours 
there. 

The  following  clay  we  took  our  course  direct  to  New 
York;  that  was  a  real  enjoyment, — warm  weather,  a  calm 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  13 

sea,  favourable  wind,  and  in  the  evening  the  ocean  full  of 
phosphoric  light  and  stars,  and  heaven  full  of  stars  also, 
shining  out  from  amid  poetical  clouds.  It  was  a  glorious 
evening.  I  was  on  deck  till  quite  late,  and  watched  the 
fireworks  which  our  keel  called  forth  from  the  deep  along 
the  whole  track  of  the  ship.  We  sailed,  as  it  were,  in  an 
element  of  bright  silver,  from  which  the  most  splendid 
constellation  of  golden  stars  sprang  forth  incessantly. 

The  day  before  had  been  cloudy ;  the  heavens  and  the 
sea  had  been  grey ;  the  waves  lead-coloured.  But  when 
we  came  into  the  large,  beautiful  haven  of  New  York,  which 
inclosed  us  like  an  open  embrace,  the  sun  broke  through 
the  clouds,  strong  and  warm,  and  everything  far  around 
was  illuminated.  It  was  a  glorious  reception  by  the  New 
World  ;  besides  this,  there  was  a  something  so  singularly 
full  of  vitality,  so  exuberantly  young,  which  struck  me 
deeply :  there  was  in  it  something  of  that  first  life  of 
youth,  such  as  is  felt  at  fifteen  or  sixteen.  I  drank  in  the 
air  as  one  might  drink  in  water,  whilst  I  stood  on  deck 
looking  out  upon  the  new  shore  which  we  were  rapidly 
approaching. 

The  shore  is  low.  A  forest  of  masts,  as  yet,  hid  New 
York  from  my  sight;  one  only  saw  its  towers  and  its 
smoke;  and  right  and  left  in  the  harbour  lay,  with  its 
green  hills  and  groups  of  beautiful  villas  and  houses,  the 
large  islands,  Long  Island,  and  to  the  left  Staten  Island, 
which  seemed  to  me  higher  and  more  woody  than  the  rest 
of  the  coast.  The  harbour  is  magnificent;  and  our 
arrival  was  festively  beautiful,  thanks  to  sun  and  wind ! 

A  very  agreeable  family  of  the  name  of  B ,  from 

Georgia,  took  charge  of  me  and  mine  with  the  utmost 
kindness,  and  I  accompanied  them  to  the  Astor  House, 
where  we  immediately  obtained  rooms.  The  pale  girl  and 
myself  took  up  our  quarters  in  a  room  four  stories  high ; 
we  could  not  manage  it  otherwise. 

I  had  not  been  a  quarter  of  an   hour  in   the  Astor 


14  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

House,  and  was  standing  with,  my  travelling  companions 
in  a  parlour,  when  a  gentleman  dressed  in  black,  with  a 
refined,  gentlemanly  appearance  and  manner,  and  a  pair 
of  the  handsomest  brown  eyes  I  ever  saw,  approached  me 
gently,  and  mentioned  my  name  in  a  remarkably  melo 
dious  voice :  it  was  Mr.  Downing,  who  had  come  from  his 
villa  on  the  Hudson  to  meet  me  on  my  arrival.  I  had 
scarcely  expected  that,  as  I  was  so  much  after  my  time, 
and  he  had  already  made  a  journey  to  New  York  on  my 
behalf  in  vain.  His  exterior  and  his  whole  demeanour 
pleased  me  greatly.  I  do  not  know  why,  but  I  had 
imagined  him  to  be  a  middle-aged  man,  with  blue  eyes 
and  light  hair ;  and  he  is  a  young  man,  about  thirty, 
with  dark  eyes  and  dark  hair,  of  a  beautiful  brown,  and 
softly  curling — in  short,  of  quite  a  poetical  appearance  !  He 
will  remain  here  with  me  over  to-morrow  ;  but  he  insists 
upon  it  that  on  the  following  day  I  shall  accompany  him 
to  his  house  on  the  Hudson,  where  I  can  make  the 
acquaintance  of  his  wife,  at  my  leisure,  in  the  Highlands 
of  the  Hudson,  as  well  as  consider  over  my  future 
travelling  movements. 

I  have  spent  the  evening  with  my  friends  from  the 
"  Canada,"  and  Mr.  Downing,  in  one  of  the  many  large 
drawing-rooms  of  the  house,  and  there  made  various 
acquaintances.  Magnificent  drawing-rooms  with  furniture 
of  velvet,  with  mirrors  and  gilding,  brilliant  with  gas- 
lighted  magnificent  chandeliers,  and  other  grandeur, 
stand  open  in  every  storey  of  the  house,  for  ladies  and 
gentlemen  who  live  here,  or  who  are  visiting  here,  to 
converse  or  to  rest,  talking  together  on  soft  and  splendid 
sofas  or  arm  chairs,  fanning  themselves,  and  just  as  if 
they  had  nothing  else  to  do  in  the  world  than  to  make 
themselves  agreeable  to  one  another.  Scarcely  can  a 
lady  rise  than  immediately  a  gentleman  is  at  hand  to 
offer  her  his  arm. 

October   5th. — Uf!    It  is   more  wearisome   here  than 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  15 

anybody  can  believe ;  and  I  am  quite  tired  out  after  one 
day  of  lion -life. 

Through  the  whole  day  have  I  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  receive  visits  ;  to  sit  or  to  stand  in  a  grand  parlour, 
and  merely  turn  from  one  to  another,  receiving  the 
salutations  and  shaking  hands  with  sometimes  half  a 
dozen  new  acquaintance  at  once — gentlemen  of  all  pro 
fessions  and  all  nations,  ladies  who  invite  me  to  their  house 
and  home,  and  who  wish  that  I  would  go  immediately; 
besides,  a  number  of  letters  which  I  could  do  no  more 
than  merely  break  open,  requests  for  autographs  and  so 
on.  I  have  shaken  hands  with  from  seventy  to  eighty 
persons  to-day,  whilst  I  was  unable  to  receive  the  visits  of 
many  others.  Of  the  names  I  remember  scarcely  any,  but 
the  greater  number  of  the  people  whom  I  have  seen  please 
me  from  their  cordial  frank  manners,  and  I  am  grateful 
to  them  for  their  extreme  friendliness  towards  me.  It  feels 
to  me  so  warm  and  hospitable.  Nevertheless  I  was  very 
glad  to  be  relieved  for  a  few  hours  from  my  good  friends, 
and  to  drive  out  with  Mr.  Downing  to  the  beautiful  park, 
Greenwood,  the  large  and  new  cemetery  of  New  York,  a 
young  Pere  la  Chaise,  but  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  as  to 
situation  and  plan.  One  drives  as  if  in  an  extensive 
English  park,  amid  hill  and  dale.  From  the  highest 
hill,  Ocean  Hill,  as  it  is  called,  one  looks  out  to  the  sea — 
a  glorious  view.  I  should  like  to  repose  here.  The  most 
beautiful  monument  which  I  saw,  was  of  white  marble, 
and  had  been  erected  by  sorrowing  parents  over  their 
young  daughter  and  only  child.  The  young  girl  had 
been  driven  over ;  I  suppose  it  must  have  been  in 
Broadway. 

On  our  return  to  the  hotel  I  dined  with  Mr.  Downing 
in  one  of  the  smaller  saloons.  I  saw  some  gentlemen 
sitting  at  table,  whom  it  was  as  distressing  for  me  to  look 
at  as  it  is  to  look  at  over- driven  worn-out  horses,  for  so 
they  looked  to  me.  The  restless,  deeply  sunk  eyes,  the 


16  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

excited,  wearied  features, — to  what  a  life  they  bore  witness  ? 
Better  lie  and  sleep  on  Ocean  Hill  than  live  thus  on 
Broadway  !  These  figures  resembled  a  few  of  those  which 
I  had  seen  at  the  Astor  House ;  but  I  had  already  seen 
on  Broadway  both  human  beings  and  horses  which  I 
wished  not  to  have  seen  on  the  soil  of  the  New  World, 
and  which  testify  to  dark  passages  of  life  even  there. 
And  yet, — how  should  it  be  otherwise,  especially  at  New 
York  ?  which  is  rather  a  large  hotel,  a  caravanserai  for  the 
whole  world,  than  a  regular  American  city. 

After  dinner  I  again  received  visitors,  among  these, 
Mrs.  Child ;  she  gave  me  the  impression  of  a  beautiful 
soul,  but  too  angular  to  be  happy.  The  little  poetess, 
Miss  Lynch,  was  among  the  visitors  of  the  morning,  an 
agreeable,  pretty,  and  intellectual  young  lady,  in  whose 
countenance  there  is  a  look  of  Jenny  Lind.  I  also  saw 
some  of  my  countrymen.  A  pleasant  young  Swede, 
Frestadius,  came  with  a  large  bouquet.  The  Norwegian 
consul,  Hejerdahl,  Mr.  Buttenskon,  I  had  scarcely  time 
for  more  than  merely  to  exchange  a  greeting  with. 
Oneonius  came  also  from  the  West,  and  wished  to  talk 
with  me,  that  I  might  warn  our  countrymen  against 
emigration  and  its  sufferings. 

Among  the  invitations  of  to-day  there  was  one  to  a 
Phalanstery,  situated  at  New  Jersey,  not  far  from  New 
York.  I  shall  have  no  objection  to  make  a  nearer 
acquaintance  with  these  wild  beasts.  The  family  which 
invited  me  thither,  on  a  visit  to  themselves,  did  not  seem 
at  all  repulsive,  but,  on  the  contrary,  attractive ;  so 
ingenuous,  kind,  and  earnest,  did  they  appear. 

But  -that  which  I  am  a  little  afraid  of  is,  for  myself  at 
least,  lest  life  in  this  country  should  be  like  this  of  to-day; 
then  I  should  be  regularly  worn  out,  for  my  strength 
could  never  stand  against  these  many  lively  people.  What 
is  to  be  done  if  it  goes  on  in  this  way  ?  Fortunately  I 
I  shall  be  conveyed  away  from  New  York  early  to-morrow 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  17 

morning  by  the  excellent  Mr.  Downing.  This  evening 
I  must,  spite  of  my  fatigue,  drive  to  a  soiree  at  the 
house  of  Miss  Lynch,  who  wishes  to  introduce  me  to 
some  of  her  literary  friends.  I  am  dressed  for  this 
purpose,  have  on  my  best  clothes,  and  look  quite 
respectable  in  them,  and  am  writing  whilst  I  wait  for  the 
carriage.  Only  to  think  of  those  who  are  lying  down  to 
sleep ! 

1  am  still  in  joint  quarters  with  the  pale  young  girl 
from  the  South ;  I  have  never  seen  any  one  with  so 
serene  a  mind,  or  one  who  meets  suffering  so  cheerfully. 
She  is  a  quiet,  pious  being,  endowred  with  great  strength 
and  tenderness  of  soul. 

I  must  now  go  !     Good  night ! 

NEWBTTRGH  ON  THE  HUDSON,  October  7th. 

Sunday. — My  sweet  sister,  my  sweet  friend  !  how  glad 
I  am  to  be  here  in  the  young,  new  world  ;  how  thankful 
I  am  to  Providence,  who,  in  his  mercy,  through  the 
impulse  of  mind  and  of  steam,  brought  me  happily  hither, 
although  I  am  at  the  same  time  almost  as  much  burdened 
as  elevated  by  the  crowd  of  impressions  and  thoughts 
which,  as  it  were,  rush  in  upon  me  at  once. 

Everything  of  which  I  have  had  a  foretaste,  which  I 
have  sought  after  and  longed  for,  do  I  meet  with  here, 
and  more  than  that.  I  mean  nourishment  and  light  for 
the  inquiring  and  searching  spirit  within  me.  I  consider 
myself  especially  fortunate  in  coming  in  contact  with 
Mr.  Downing,  a  noble  and  acutely  discriminating  spirit,  a 
true  American,  yet  without  blind  patriotism,  an  open 
heart,  a  critically  sagacious  intellect,  one  who  can  assist 
me  to  understand  the  condition  and  the  questions  of  this 
country.  And  with  such  assistance  it  is  very  requisite  to 
begin. 

It  was  also  requisite  that  I  should  really  be  released 


18  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

bodily  from  my  friends  of  the  Astor  House  and  New  York, 
who  otherwise  would  have  made  an  end  of  me  in  the 
beginning.  I  was  so  weary  of  that  first  day's  labour  in 
social  life,  which  lasted  till  long  after  midnight,  and  was 
so  much  in  want  of  rest  and  sleep,  that  I  did  not  believe 
it  possible  for  me  to  set  off  from  New  York  at  five  o'clock 
the  next  morning.  I  said  so  to  Mr.  Downing,  who  very 
mildly,  yet  decidedly,  remarked,  "  Oh,  we  must  endeavour 
to  do  so  !"  on  which  I  thought  to  myself,  "  these  Americans 
believe  that  everything  is  possible ! "  but  feeling  at  the 
same  time  that  the  thing  was  quite  impracticable.  And 
yet  at  half-past  four  the  next  morning  I  was  up  and 
ready  dressed,  kissed  in  her  bed  the  pale  girl  from  the 
South,  who  at  the  last  moment  tied  round  my  neck  a  little 
silk  handkerchief,  as  delicate  and  white  as  herself,  and 
then  hastened  down  to  place  myself  under  the  tyranny  of 
Mr.  Downing.  The  carriage  was  already  at  the  door, 
and  seated  in  it  I  found  Miss  Lynch,  whom  Mr.  Downing 
had  invited  to  pass  the  Sunday  at  his  house. 

"  Go  a-head  !  New  World !  "  cried  the  servant  at  the 
door  of  the  hotel  to  our  driver ;  and  we  rolled  away  down 
Broadway  to  the  harbour,  where  the  great  steamboat,  the 
"New  World,"  received  us  on  board.  This  was  really  a 
little  floating  palace,  splendid  and  glittering  with  white 
and  gold  on  the  outside,  splendid  and  elegant  within : 
large  saloons,  magnificent  furniture,  where  ladies  and 
gentlemen  reclined  comfortably,  talking  or  reading  the 
newspapers.  I  saw  here  none  of  Dickens'  smoking  and 
spitting  gentlemen.  AVe  floated  proudly  and  Smoothly  on 
the  broad  magnificent  Hudson.  It  was  a  pity  that  the 
day  was  rainy,  because  the  voyage  was,  excepting  for  this, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  which  any  one  can  conceive, 
especially  when  after  a  few  hours'  time,  we  reached  wrhat 
are  called  the  Highlands.  The  shores,  with  their  boldly 
wood-covered  heights,  reminded  me  continually  of  the 
shores  of  the  Dala  and  the  Angermanna  rivers,  nay,  seemed 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  19 

to  me  to  belong  to  the  same  natural  conformation,  ex 
cepting  that  here  it  was  broader  and  on  a  larger  scale ;  and 
the  dark  clouds  which  hung  between  the  hills  in  heavy 
draperies  above  the  river,  were  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  gloomily  beautiful  passes,  through  which  we  swung, 
and  which  presented  at  every  new  turn  new  and  more 
magnificent  pictures.  The  river  was  full  of  life.  Wooden- 
roofed  steamboats,  brilliant,  as  ours,  with  gold  and 
white,  passed  up  and  down  the  river.  Other  steam 
boats  drew  along  with  them  flotillas  of  from  twenty  to 
thirty  boats,  laden  with  goods  from  the  country  to  New 
York,  whilst  hundreds  of  smaller  and  larger  craft  were 
seen  skimming  along  past  the  precipitous  shores  like 
white  doves  with  red  fluttering  neck-ribbons.  On  the 
shores  shone  forth  white  country-houses  and  small  farms. 
I  observed  a  great  variety  in  the  style  of  building  :  many 
of  the  houses  were  in  the  gothic  style,  others  like  Grecian 
temples  ;  and  why  not  ?  The  home  ought  to  be  a  temple 
as  well  as  a  habitation  and  a  storehouse  Also  in  our 
old  North  was  the  houseplace  a  sacred  room  in  which  the 
household  gods  were  to  be  worshipped.  I  saw  too  that 
there  was  every  variety  of  church  on  the  shores :  the 
prevailing  colour  being  white.  Many  private  houses, 
however,  were  of  a  soft  grey  and  of  a  sepia  tint.  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  journey,  the  clouds  came  down 
upon  us,  and  we  became  perfectly  wet.  But  with  the 
agreeable  Miss  Lynch  and  Mr.  Downing  it  was  an 
easy  thing  to  preserve  sunshine  in  temper  and  in  con 
versation. 

After  a  sail  of  between  three  and  four  hours,  we  landed 
at  the  little  town  of  Newburgh,  where  Mr.  Downing's 
carriage  awaited  to  convey  us  up  the  hills  to  a  beautiful 
villa  of  sepia-coloured  sandstone,  with  two  small  pro 
jecting  towers,  surrounded  by  a  park :  lying  high  and 
open  it  has  a  free  view  over  the  beautiful  river  and  its 
shores.  A  delicate,  pretty  little  woman  met  us  at  the 

c  2 


20  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

door  of  the  house,  embraced  Mr.  Downing,  and  cordially 
welcomed  his  guests.  This  was  Mrs.  Downing.  She 
seemed  to  be  of  a  bird-like  nature  ;  and  We  shall  get  on 
and  twitter  together  charmingly,  because  I,  too,  have 
something  of  that  nature  about  me. 

The  Astor  House  and  its  splendid  rooms,  and  social  life 
and  the  "  New  World  "  steamer,  with  all  its  finery,  were 
good  specimens  of  the  showy  side  of  the  life  of  the  new 
world;  and  Mr.  Downing  said  that  it  was  quite  as  well  that 
I  should  at  once  have  seen  something  of  it,  that  I  might 
the  better  be  able  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  other  side  of 
life  here — of  that  which  belongs  to  the  inward,  more 
refined,  peculiar,  individual  development.  And  I  could 
not  easily  have  a  better  specimen  of  this  than  in 
Mr.  Downing  himself,  and  his  home.  He  has  built  his 
house  himself.  It  was  himself  who  planted  all  the  trees 
and  flowers  around  it ;  and  everything  seems  to  me  to 
bear  the  stamp  of  a  refined  and  earnest  mind.  It  stands 
in  the  midst  of  romantic  scenery,  shadowy  pathways,  the 
prettiest  little  bits  of  detail  and  splendid  views.  Every 
thing  has  been  done  with  design;  nothing  by  guess, 
nothing  with  formality.  A  soul  has  here  felt,  thought, 
arranged.  Within  the  house  there  prevails  a  certain 
darkness  of  tone  :  all  the  wood-work  of  the  furniture  is 
brown;  the  daylight  even  is  dusk,  yet  nevertheless 
clear,  or  more  properly  full  of  light — a  sort  of  imprisoned 
sunshine,  something  warm  and  deep  ;  it  seemed  to  me 
like  a  reflection  of  the  man's  own  brown  eyes.  In  the 
forms,  the  furniture,  and  the  arrangement,  prevails  the 
finest  taste  ;  everything  is  noble  and  quiet,  and  everything 
equally  comfortable  as  it  is  tasteful.  The  only  things 
which  are  brilliant  in  the  rooms  are  the  beautiful  flowers 
in  lovely  vases  and  baskets.  For  the  rest,  there  are  books, 
busts,  and  some  pictures.  Above  small  bookcases,  in  the 
form  of  gothic  windows,  in  the  walls  of  Mr.  Dowmng's 
parlour,  stand  busts  of  Linnaeus,  Franklin,  Newton,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  21 

many  other  heroes  of  natural  science.  One  sees  in 
this  habitation  a  decided  and  thorough  individuality  of 
character,  which  has  impressed  itself  on  all  that  surrounds 
it.  And  in  this  way  ought  every  one  to  form  himself 
and  his  own  world.  One  feels  here  Mr.  Downing's  motto, 
"  II  buono  e  il  hello.0  In  food,  in  fruits,  as  well  as  in 
many  small  things,  prevails  a  certain  amount  of  luxury ; 
but  which  does  not  make  any  outward  show;  it  exists, 
as  it  were,  concealed  in  the  inward  richness  and  exqui 
site  selection  of  the  thing  itself.  I  did  not  expect  to 
have  met  with  this  kind  of  home  in  the  young  new 
world. 

Since  I  have  been  here  it  has  rained  and  blown 
incessantly,  and  I  am  quite  appalled  at  the  climate.  It 
could  hardly  be  worse  with  us  in  October.  But  not  the 
less  happy  do  I  esteem  myself  for  having  come  to  so  good 
a  home.  My  room  is  in  the  upper  story,  and  has  a 
magnificent  view  over  the  Hudson,  and  the  hills  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river. 

I  thought  that  I  should  be  here,  for  a  time  at  least,  free 
from  visitors.  But  no  !  Last  evening,  as  I  sate  with  my 
friends  in  their  peaceful  parlour,  there  came,  amid  the 
darkness,  the  storm,  and  the  rain,  Professor  Hart,  the 
editor  of  Sartain's  "  Union  Magazine "  in  Philadelphia, 
who  immediately  on  the  announcement  of  my  arrival  in 
the  newspapers,  had  travelled  from  Philadelphia  to  New 
York,  and  from  New  York  had  followed  me  hither  merely, 
he  said,  to  "monopolise"  me  for  his  magazine,  begging 
me  to  write  for  it,  and  for  none  other,  during  my  visit  to 
America.  So  much  for  American  .enterprise  in  matters 
of  business.  For  the  rest,  there  was  so  much  gentlemanly 
refinement  in  his  manner,  and  a  something  so  benevolently 
good  and  agreeable  in  his  pale,  delicate  countenance,  that 
I  could  not  help  taking  a  fancy  to  him,  and  giving  him 
my  word  that  if  I  should  write  anything  for  publication 
in  America  I  would  leave  it  in  his  hands.  But  I  doubt 


22  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

whether  I  shall  write  anything  here.  Here  I  have  need 
to  think  and  to  learn. 

Monday,  the  Sth  of  October.  —  To-day  the  sun 
shines  above  the  lordly  Hudson,  which  flows  at  my 
feet ;  and  I  should  feel  myself  happy  with  my  thoughts 
and  my  American  books  were  not  the  stream  of 
visitors  again  in  motion,  taking  up  my  time  and  my 
attention.  I  must  beg  of  the  Downings  to  defend  my 
forenoon  hours,  and  during  them  not  to  allow  me  to  be 
called  from  my  cage  ;  if  not,  I  shall  become  a  savage  lion, 
instead  of  a  tame  lioness,  as  they  would  have  me,  and  as 
is  most  becoming  to  my  disposition.  I  feel  myself  par 
ticular!}7  happy  with  the  Downings,  and  I  am  able  to  learn 
very  much  from  Mr.  Downing,  whose  individuality  of 
character  strikes  me  more  and  more.  There  is  something 
of  a  quiet  melancholy  in  him,  but  he  has  an  unusually 
observant  glance,  a  critical,  and  rather  sarcastic  turn  of 
mind,  the  result  of  a  large  comprehension.  He  is 
silent,  but  one  of  those  silent  persons  from  whom  one 
seems  to  hear  profound  wisdom,  though  not  a  word  is 
said.  His  mind  is  in  a  high  degree  receptive  and 
discriminating,  and  the  conversation  of  all  is  interesting 
to  him.  His  wife  is  a  charming,  merry,  and  amiable 
little  creature,  of  a  highly  cultivated  mind,  and  equal  to 
her  husband. 

I  have  to-day,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Downing, 
written  to  Professor  Bergfalk  to  invite  him  hither. 
Professor  Bergfalk  is  at  this  time  at  Poughkeepsie,  a  few 
Swedish  miles  up  the  country,  where  he  is  perfecting 
himself  in  the  use  of  the  English  language.  I  consider 
it  is  a  particularly  fortunate  thing  for  me  to  be  able  now 
and  then,  during  my  stay  here  in  this  country,  to  meet 
and  to  converse  with  Bergfalk ;  and  I  wish  him  to  make 
Mr.  Downing's  acquaintance,  and  for  Mr.  Downing  to 
become  acquainted  with  Bergfalk,  that  he  may  know  how 
interesting  a  Swedish  learned  man  can  be. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  23 

Now  receive  a  large,  cordial  embrace  across  the  great 
ocean  for  mamma  and  you ! 

P.S.  I  must  tell  you  that  among  my  invitations  is  one 
to  a  wedding  in  the  neighbourhood :  I  shall  gladly  accept 
it.  I  like  to  see  brides  and  weddings. 

In  my  next  letter  I  shall  speak  of  my  plans  and  of  my 
route  for  the  future  :  at  present  they  are  not  wholly 
decided ;  further  than  that,  I  wish  to  spend  the  winter  in 
Boston — the  American  Athens — and  there,  as  far  as  I 
can,  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  intellectual  movements 
in  the  life  of  the  New  World.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a 
good  thing  for  me  to  spend  about  three  weeks  with  the 
Downings,  and  to  make  excursions  with  them  to  some  of 
their  friends  on  the  Hudson, — "  some  of  the  best  people 
in  the  country,"  as  they  say.  Among  these  is  Washington 
Irving,  who,  together  with  Fenimore  Cooper,  was  the 
first  who  made  us  in  Sweden  somewhat  at  home  in 
America.  Miss  Sedgwick  is  expected  here  in  a  few  days  : 
I  shall  be  glad  to  see  her,  and  thank  her  for  the  pleasure 
we  have  had  in  her  "Kedwood"  and  "Hope  Leslie."  If 
I  could  only  have  a  little  time  for  myself !  The  difficulty 
to  me  is  to  be  able  to  receive  all  the  kind  people  who 
hasten  to  me  from  far  and  near,  from  different  states  and 
towns.  But  although  I  can  but  imperfectly  respond  to 
their  good-will,  yet  I  am  not  the  less  heartily  grateful  for 
it ;  and  never  shall  I  forget  how,  on  the  very  first  day  of 
my  arrival  in  New  York,  more  than  half-a-dozen  homes 
were  opened  to  me,  where  I  might  have  been  received  as 
guest  and  member  of  the  family ;  and  the  number  of  these 
homes  increase  daily.  I  have  even  had  invitations  from 
Quakers.  Would  t^at  I  could  have  accepted  one-fifth  of 
these ! 


24  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


LETTEK  III. 

ON  THE  HUDSON,  Oct.  11,  1849. 

MY  DEAR  HEART  ! — We  went  to  the  wedding  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  We  drove  to  the  house  of  the 
bride  in  pouring  rain.  All  the  guests,  about  a  hundred  in 
number,  were  already  assembled.  The  bride's  father,  an 
elderly  gentleman  of  a  remarkably  agreeable  appearance, 
offered  me  his  arm  to  lead  me  into  the  room  where  the 
marriage  was  to  take  place.  It  was  the  only  daughter  of 
the  house  who  was  to  be  married.  The  elder  sister  had 
been  dead  about  a  year,  and  that  the  mother  still  grieved 
for  her  loss  might  be  seen  by  her  pale,  sorrowful,  counte 
nance.  The  wedding  company  was  very  silent.  One 
might  rather  have  believed  oneself  in  a  house  of  mourning 
than  at  a  joyful  festival.  And  as  the  eldest  daughter  had 
died  soon  after  her  marriage,  and  in  consequence  of  it, 
namely,  when  she  was  about  to  become  a  mother,  it  was 
not  without  cause  that  this  festival  was  regarded  with 
serious  thoughts. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen  were  introduced  to  me  one  after 
another,  and  then  again  the  whole  circle  became  silent. 
Presently  it  was  whispered  round  that  the  marriage 
ceremony  was  about  to  commence.  A  door  opened, 
and  a  young  gentleman  entered,  leading  in  a  young  lady 
in  her  bonnet  and  travelling  dress.  They  took  their 
places  side  by  side  at  the  bottom  of  the  room,  a  venerable 
old  clergyman  stepped  forward  to  the  young  couple,  and 
— they  were  united  in  holy  wedlock  £or  ever  by  a  short 
prayer,  a  short  admonition,  and  a  short  benediction. 
Friends  and  relations  then  came  forward,  and  kissed  and 
congratulated  the  new-married  pair  ;  I  also  went  forward, 
leaning  on  the  father's  arm,  kissed  the  bride  and  shook 
hands  with  the  young  husband.  He  looked  happy  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  25 

perfectly  self-possessed.  She  also  looked  pleased,  and 
besides  that,  very  pretty ;  nay,  she  would  have  appeared 
really  handsome  if  she  had  been  in  bridal  attire,  and  not 
dressed  as  for  a  journey,  and  that  evidently  less  with 
regard  to  looking  handsome  than  to  the  rainy  weather 
in  which  the  new  married  couple  would  commence  their 
journey  through  life ;  that  is  to  say,  immediately  after  the 
marriage  ceremony  they  would  set  sail  for  Niagara,  and 
must  therefore  hasten  away  to  the  steam-boat.  Champagne 
and  cake  was  handed  round. 

One  saw  the  bridal  presents  arranged  upon  a  table  ; 
they  were  looked  at,  and  each  wedding-guest  received  a 
little  pasteboard  box,  tied  round  with  white  ribbon,  in 
which  was  a  piece  of  bride-cake.  After  that  every  one 
set  off,  even  the  young  couple,  they  to  return,  after  a  few 
weeks'  pleasure -tour,  to  reside  with  the  parents.  It  all 
took  place  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 

This  marriage  ceremony  seemed  to  me  characteristic 
of  that  haste  and  precipitation  for  which  I  have  often 
heard  the  Americans  reproached.  Life  is  short,  say  they, 
and  therefore  they  hurry  along  its  path,  dispensing  with 
all  needless  forms  and  fashions  which  might  impede  the 
necessary  business  of  life,  and  perform  even  this  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  making  five  minutes  suffice  to  be  married  in, 
and  receiving  even  the  marriage  benediction  in  travelling 
costume,  that  they  may  instantly  set  off  on  a  journey — to 
Niagara,  or  somewhere  else. 

But  I  must  acknowledge  that  on  this  occasion  it  was 
merely  the  form  which  was  hurried.  It  was  evident  that 
earnestness  lay  at  the  bottom  of  every  heart,  and  even  the 
short  marriage-blessing  bore  the  impression  of  deep  and 
solemn  earnestness.  One  could  easily  see  that  it  was  not 
a  matter  of  jest,  not  a  matter  of  passing  interest,  but  one 
of  great  importance.  Many  persons  were  affected,  some 
wept — they  thought  probably  of  the  former  marriage  in 
this  family.  The  old  servant,  a  negro,  who  handed  about 


26  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

refreshments,  had  one  of  those  countenances  in  which  may 
be  read  a  whole  volume  of  the  inner  life  of  the  family, 
and  which  shows  that  it  is  a  life  of  affection,  in  which  the 
servant  feels  himself  to  be  a  member  of  the  family. 

Many  people  disapprove  of  these  marriages  in  travelling 
attire,  and  at  the  moment  of  setting  out  for  a  journey, 
and  insist  on  their  being  conducted  with  greater  solemnity. 
Nor  are  they  the  only  customary  mode  here.  They  have 
also  evening  marriages,  when  the  bride  is  dressed  pretty 
much  as  with  us,  and  everything  is  conducted  with  about 
the  same  solemnity,  with  the  exception  of  exhibiting  the 
bride  to  the  people,  surrounded  by  lights,  marshals,  and 
bridemaids,  as  is  usual  with  us  in  Sweden,  and  I  believe 
in  Sweden  alone. 

Saturday,  Oct.  20th.  —  I  have  not  now  written  for 
several  days,  the  time  having  been  occupied  by  many 
people,  and  many  engrossing  engagements.  I  shall  now, 
however,  note  down  the  more  important  of  the  late 
occurrences. 

Hitherto  I  have  not  received  any  letter  ;  I  long,  I  long, 
so  much  ! 

I  have  greatly  enjoyed  this  period  of  my  new  life,  and 
the  Hesperian  fruits,  and  whether  it  is  the  effect  of  these 
or  of  the  new  world's  youthful,  lively  atmosphere  (we  have 
had  for  some  time  the  most  beautiful  weather)  or  of  the  new 
impressions  which  daily  flow  in  upon  me,  but  I  feel  the 
strings  of  life  vibrate  as  it  were  more  strongly,  and  my 
pulse  beat  at  times  almost  feverishly.  I  feel  myself  to  be 
drinking  nectar  spiritually  and  bodily;  it  is  a  divine 
drink,  but  almost  too  potent  for  a  weak  mortal,  at  least  as 
an  everyday  beverage.  The  excess  of  social  intercourse 
is  also  too  exciting,  however  charming  and  agreeable  it 
may  be.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Downing,  who  have  no  children, 
seem  to  live  for  the  beautiful  and  the  agreeable  in  life 
amid  a  select  circle  of  friends  and  neighbours,  who  for  the 
most  part  reside  on  the  lovely  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  27 

a  cheerful  and  unembarrassed  social  intercourse  seems  to 
characterise  the  life  of  this  circle.  They  are  continually 
visiting  one  another.  The  banks  of  the  Hudson  are  now 
in  all  the  pomp  of  autumn,  and  the  foliage  of  the  woods 
which  clothe  the  shores  and  the  heights,  and  which 
consist  of  a  great  variety  of  trees,  is  now  brilliant  with 
the  most  splendid  variation  of  colour,  from  light  yellow  to 
intense  scarlet;  but  it  is  too  gorgeous  and  chaotic  a 
splendour  to  be  truly  agreeable  to  my  eye,  which  requires 
more  uniformity  of  colour. 

Of  fruit  there  is  here  the  greatest  abundance ;  the  most 
beautiful  peaches,  although  their  season  is  properly  over  ; 
pears,  plums,  grapes,  that  is  to  say,  hot-house  grapes  and 
many  other.  The  Downings'  table  is  ornamented  every 
day  with  a  basket  filled  with  the  most  glorious  fruit — 
really  Hesperian — and  beautiful  flowers  arranged  with  the 
most  exquisite  taste.  The  breakfasts  here,  in  the  country, 
are  much  more  substantial  than  with  us  in  Sweden. 
Besides  coffee  and  tea  the  table  is  supplied  with  fish, 
fresh  meat,  buckwheat  cakes,  omelets,  and  so  on.  Besides 
which  here  is  bread  of  Indian  corn  and  a  kind  of  sweet 
potato,  which  is  peculiar  to  the  country,  and  which  is  an 
extremely  good  and  palatable  fruit.  It  is  long,  soft,  and 
mealy,  yellow  and  very  sweet.  It  is  commonly  brought 
to  table  unpeeled,  and  is  eaten  with  butter.  At  dinner 
there  is  meat,  in  the  same  way  as  in  England,  together 
with  various  vegetables  and  fruit  peculiar  to  America.  In 
the  afternoon  but  little  is  eaten;  they  have  commonly 
tea,  and  bread-and-butter  or  tea-bread,  and  after  that 
preserved  fruits,  mostly  peach,  and  cream.  One  custom, 
which  appears  to  me  to  be  especially  excellent,  is  to 
place  little  tables  beside  the  guests,  one  to  each  two 
persons,  before  the  tea  is  handed  round.  In  this  way  people 
place  themselves  together,  two  and  two,  and  have  the 
most  delicious  little  tete-d-tetes,  and  that  you  know  I  am 
very  fond  of.  I  cannot  converse  well  except  when  tete-a-tete* 


28  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

My  happiest  hours  here  are  those  which  I  spend  alone  in 
the  forenoon,  in  my  own  room,  with  American  books, 
which  Mr.  Downing  lends  me,  and  those  passed  in  the 
evening  with  my  host  and  hostess,  sitting  in  the  little 
darkened  parlour  with  bookcases  and  busts  around  us, 
and  the  fire  quietly  glimmering  in  the  large  fire-place. 
There,  by  the  evening  lamp,  Mr.  Downing  and  his  wife 
read  to  me  by  turns  passages  from  their  most  esteemed 
American  poets.  The  books  I  afterwards  carry  with  me 
up  into  my  chamber ;  in  this  way  I  have  become  acquainted 
with  Bryant,  Lowell,  and  Emerson,  all  of  them  represen 
tatives,  in  however  dissimilar  a  manner,  of  the  life  of 
the  New  World.  Bryant  sings  especially  of  its  natural 
life,  of  its  woods,  its  prairies,  its  peculiar  natural  scenes 
and  phenomena — and  his  song  breathes  the  quiet  fresh 
inspiration  of  natural  life.  One  feels  the  sap  circulating 
through  the  growth  of  the  tree,  and  the  leaves  shooting 
forth.  His  '  Thenatopsis,'  or  night-song,  is  a  largely 
conceived  although  a  short  poem,  in  which  the  whole 
earth  is  regarded  as  a  huge  burial-place.  Lowell  is 
inspired  by  the  great  social  questions  of  the  new  world, 
by  the  ideal  life  of  the  new  \vorld,  which  he  calls  forth 
into  existence  in  his  songs  about  freedom,  about  the 
bliss  of  a  free  and  contented,  noble  life,  and  about 
the  honour  and  beauty  of  labour.  Again  and  again 
I  beg  Mr.  Downing  to  read  to  me  that  beautiful  little 
poem,  "  The  Poor  Man's  Son,"  which  charms  me  by 
its  melody,  and  by  its  impartial  spirit — which  is  moral 
melody,  and  by  that  cheerful  truth  which  it  utters  in  the 
prospects  for  the  poor  man's  son  on  the  soil  of  the  new 
world.  Would  that  I  could  translate  for  you  that  beau 
tiful  poem,  and  that  Mr.  Downing  could  read  it  to  you 
with  his  musical  voice !  His  little  wife,  Caroline,  prefers 
reading  a  short  epic  poem,  called  "  Sir  Launfall's  Vision." 
Lowell's  ideas  are  purely  moral,  and  a  deep  vein  of 
religious  feeling  runs  through  them.  One  of  his  most 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  29 

beautiful  songs,  in  which  burns  a  strong  and  noble 
patriotism,  is  directed  against  a  political  measure  in 
Congress  favourable  to  the  maintenance  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.  By  this  and  many  anti-slavery  songs  has 
this  young  poet  taken  his  place  among  the  leaders  of  that 
great  party  in  the  country  which  calls  itself  Abolitionist, 
and  which  insists  upon  the  abolition  of  slavery.  He  must 
express  himself  in  verse — he  does  not  make  the  verse,  he 
sings  it,  and  in  his  song  there  is  that  overflowing  senti 
ment  which  makes  the  heart  overflow,  and  the  mind  spread 
forth  her  wings. 

Waldo  Emerson,  rather  a  philosopher  than  poet,  yet 
poetical  in  his  prose  philosophical  essays,  strikes  me  as 
a  new  and  peculiar  character,  the  most  unusual  of  the 
three.  He  seems  to  me  as  an  American  Thorild,  who 
by  his  own  strong,  powerful  nature  would  transform  the 
world,  seeking  for  law  and  inspiration  merely  within  his 
own  breast.  Strong  and  pure,  self-collected  and  calm, 
but  at  the  same  time  fantastical,  he  puts  forth  from  his 
transcendental  point  of  view  aphorisms  on  nature  and 
history,  on  God  (whom  he  does  not  regard  as  a  personal 
God,  but  as  a  superior  soul  in  harmony  with  laws),  and  on 
men,  criticising  men  and  their  works  from  the  ideal  of  the 
highest  truth  and  the  highest  beauty.  "  The  world,"  says 
Emerson,  "  has  not  seen  a  man,"  and  he  looks  forward 
with  longing  to  that  man,  the  man  of  the  New  World,  in 
whose  advent  he  believes.  What  this  new  man  shall 
really  be,  and  what  he  is  to  do,  is  somewhat  undecided, — 
merely  that  he  shall  be  true  and  beautiful,  and  further, 
I  suspect,  he  must  be  very  handsome  and  tall  of  stature, 
if  he  is  to  find  favour  with  Emerson,  who  is  himself,  they 
say,  a  man  of  singular  beauty,  and  who  regards  any 
personal  defect  as  a  sort  of  crime.  The  new  man 
regards  no  laws  but  those  within  his  own  breast ;  but 
there  he  finds  the  unfalsified  wells  of  truth  and  beauty. 
The  new  man  believes  in  himself  alone  ;  he  demands 


30  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

everything  from  himself,  and  does  all  for  himself,  reposes 
upon  himself  and  in  himself.  The  new  man  is  a  stoic, 
hut  not  stern  as  such  ;  he  is  beautiful  and  gentle. 
"Wherever  he  conies  life  hlooms  :  in  the  circle  of  friends 
it  becomes  as  a  holy  day;  nectar  and  ambrosia  pour 
forth  at  his  approach;  but  he  himself  needs  no  friend. 
He  needs  none,  not  even  God;  he  himself  becomes 
godlike,  inasmuch  as  that  he  does  not  need  him.  He 
conquers  heaven,  inasmuch  as  he  says  to  heaven,  "I 
desire  thee  not ! "  He  descends  down  into  nature  as  a 
restorer,  governs  and  places  it  under  the  spell  of  his 
influence,  and  it  — is  his  friend.  In  it  he  has  that  which 
suffices  him ;  the  divinities  of  the  woods  whisper  to  him 
their  peace  and  their  self-sufficingness  ;  there  is  not  a 
mole -hill  which  has  not  a  star  above  it ;  there  is  no 
sorrow  which  the  healing  life  of  nature  cannot  heal. 
He  says  farewell  to  the  proud  world ;  he  tramples  upon 
the  greatness  of  Rome  and  Greece  in  this  little  rural 
home  where  he  in  the  trees  can  see  God.  Emerson's 
language  is  compressed  and  strong,  simple,  but  singularly 
plastic.  His  turns  of  thought  are  original ;  old  ideas  are 
reproduced  in  so  new  and  brilliant  a  manner  that  one 
fancies  them  heard  for  the  first  time.  The  divining- 
rod  of  genius  is  in  his  hand.  He  is  master  in  his  own 
domain.  His  strength  seems  to  me  peculiarly  to  be  that 
of  the  critic,  a  certain  grand  contempt  and  scorn  of  the 
mediocre  of  the  weak  and  paltry  wherever  he  sees  it,  and 
he  sees  it  in  much  and  in  many  things.  He  chastises  it 
without  mercy ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  with  wonderful 
address.  Emerson's  performances  in  this  way  are  really 
quite  regal.  They  remind  me  of  our  King  Gustavus 
Adolphus  the  Great,  when  he  took  the  criminal  soldier  by 
the  hair,  and  delivered  him  over  to  punishment,  with  the 
friendly  words,  "  Come,  my  lad,  it  is  better  that  thy  body 
now  suffer  chastisement  than  that  thy  soul  go  to  hell." 
Yet  there  is  more  in  Emerson  even  than  the  intention 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  31 

of  chastisement.  The  writings  of  this  scorner  of  imper 
fection,  of  the  mean  and  the  paltry,  this  bold  exacter  of 
perfection  in  man,  have  for  me  a  fascination  which 
amounts  almost  to  magic !  I  often  object  to  him ;  I 
quarrel  with  him;  I  see  that  his  stoicism  is  one-sidedness, 
his  pantheism  an  imperfection,  and  I  know  that  which  is 
greater  and  more  perfect,  but  I  am  under  the  influence 
of  his  magical  power.  I  believe  myself  to  have  become 
greater  through  his  greatness,  stronger  through  his 
strength,  and  I  breathe  the  air  of  a  higher  sphere  in  his 
world,  which  is  indescribably  refreshing  to  me.  Emerson 
has  more  ideality  than  is  common  among  thinkers  of  the 
English  race,  and  one  might  say  that  in  him  the  idealism 
of  Germany  is  wedded  to  the  realism  of  Britain. 

I  have,  as  yet,  never  gone  a  step  to  see  a  literary  lion : 
but  Waldo  Emerson,  this  pioneer  in  the  moral  woods  of 
the  New  World,  who  sets  his  axe  to  the  roots  of  the  old 
trees  to  hew  them  down,  and  to  open  the  path  for  new 
planting ;  I  would  go  a  considerable  way  to  see  this  man. 
And  see  him  I  will, — him,  who,  in  a  society  as  strictly 
evangelical  as  that  of  Massachusetts  and  Boston  (Emerson 
was  the  minister  of  a  Unitarian  congregation  in  Boston), 
had  the  courage  openly  to  resign  his  ministration,  his 
church,  and  the  Christian  faith,  when  he  had  come  to 
doubt  of  its  principal  doctrines  ;  who  was  noble  enough, 
nevertheless,  to  retain  universal  esteem,  and  old  friends  ; 
and  strong  enough,  while  avoiding  all  polemical  contro 
versy  and  bitterness  of  speech,  to  withdraw  into  silence, 
to  labour  alone  for  that  truth  which  he  fully  acknowledged, 
for  those  doctrines  which  the  heathen  and  the  Christian 
alike  acknowledge.  Emerson  has  a  right  to  talk  about 
strength  and  truth,  because  he  lives  for  these  virtues. 
And  it  will  benefit  the  world  which  is  slumbering  in 
the  Church  from  the  lack  of  vital  Christianity,  to  be 
roused  up  by  such  fresh  winds  from  the  Himalaya  of 
heathenism.  But  how  can  Emerson  overlook ?  Yet 


32  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  will  not  ask  about  it.    Emerson  is  just  and  true.    Would 
that  many  were  like  him  ! 

But  now  I  must  tell  you  something  of  my  late  doings 
in   society.     Miss    Catherine    Sedgwick,    the    author    of 
"Redwood,"  came  here,  together  with  her  young  niece, 
Susan,  a  few  days  after  my  arrival.     Mr.  Downing,  who 
greatly  esteems  her,  wished  me  to  make  her  acquaintance. 
She   is   between   fifty  and   sixty,    and   her   countenance 
indicates  a  very  sensible,  kind,  and  benevolent  character. 
Her    figure    is    beautifully    feminine,    and    her    whole 
demeanor  womanly,  sincere,  and  frank,  without  a  shadow 
of  affectation.     I  felt  my  soul  a  little  slumbrous  while 
with  her  for  the  first  few  days ;  but  this  feeling  was,  as 
it  were,  blown  quite  away  in  a  moment  by  a  touching 
and  beautiful  expression  of  cordiality  on  her  side,  which 
revealed  us  to   each  other;    and  since  then  I  have  felt 
that  I  could  live  with  her  as  with  a  heavenly  soul,  in 
which  one  has  the   most   undoubting  trust.      I  derived 
pleasure,    also,   from   her   highly   sensible    conversation, 
and   from  her  truly  womanly  human  sympathies.      She 
has  a  true  and  gentle  spirit ;   and  I  feel  that   I   could 
really  depend  upon  her.      Of  late  years  she  has  written 
much  for,  what  I  will  call,  the  people  of  lower  degree  in 
society ;  because  here,  where  almost  every  person  works  for 
their  living,  one  cannot  properly  speak  of  a  working-class, 
but  quite  correctly  of  people  of  small  means  and  narrow 
circumstances — a  class  which  has  not  yet  worked  itself  up. 
Franklin,  himself  a  workman,  and  one  who  worked  himself 
upwards,  wrote  for   this    class.      Miss    Sedgwick   writes 
for  the  same  ;   and  her  little  novels  and  stories  are  much 
liked,  and  produce  a  great  deal  of  good.     People  praise, 
in   particular,   a   story   called   "  Home,"   which   I    shall 
endeavour  to   read.      Miss    Sedgwick  was   at   this  time 
occupied  in   preparing   a   new   edition   of  her   collected 
works.     She   consulted  me  about  some  proposed  altera 
tions  in  some  of  these  works,  and  I  told  her  that  I, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  33 

for  my  own  part,  never  would  alter  anything  in  the 
works  which  I  had  written  long  since,  even  where  I  saw 
their  faults,  and  could  easily  correct  them ;  because, 
where  an  author  lives  and  writes  through  a  long  course 
of  years,  his  or  her  works  constitute  a  history  of  that 
author's  development,  which  ought  to  remain  unaltered 
as  a  history  in  itself,  alike  instructive  to  him  as  to  others. 
An  author's  works  are  portions  of  an  autobiography, 
which  he  must  write  whether  he  will  or  not. 

Miss  Sedgwick  invited  me  to  her  house  in  Lennox, 
in  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts,  during  the  next 
summer,  and  promised  to  visit  with  me  a  Shaker  estab 
lishment  in  New  Lebanon,  which  lies  at  no  great  distance 
from  her  house. 

Whilst  Miss  Sedgwick  has  been  here  the  Downings 
have  made  an  excursion  with  us  to  the  top  of  South  Beacon, 
one  of  the  highest  hills  in  the  highlands  of  this  district. 
Mr.  Downing  drove  me,  and  for  this  mountain-road  a 
skilful  driver  and  a  good  horse  were  really  needful,  because 
the  road  was  steep,  and  rather  an  apology  for  a  road 
.than  anything  else.  But  we  stumbled  and  struggled  over 
stock  and  stone  in  our  light  carriage,  until  we  had 
ascended  about  nine  hundred  feet,  and  from  the  top  of  the 
wood-covered  hill  looked  down  upon  half  the  world,  as 
it  seemed  to  me,  but  which  presented  the  appearance 
of  a  billowy  chaos  of  wooded  heights  and  valleys,  in  which 
human  dwellings  were  visible,  merely  as  specks  of  light, 
scarcely  discernible  to  the  naked  eye.  Man,  so  great  in  his 
suffering,  in  his  combat,  vanished  into  nothing,  seen  from 
this  material  hill-top,  and  therefore  I  thought  not  about 
him.  That  which  was  most  refreshing  to  me  in  this  land 
scape  was  the  view  of  the  Hudson,  which,  like  a  clear 
thought  bursting  from  chaos,  makes  for  itself  a  path 
through  the  woods,  and  flows  brilliantly  forth  into  the 
infinite.  Our  party  was  a  little  too  large  and  a  little  too 
merry  for  me.  I  know  not  how  it  is  that  a  thoughtful 

VOL.  I.  D 


34  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

silence  should  always  come  over  me  in  such  gay  parties, 
amid  natural  scenes.  And  here  I  ought  to  have  been  alone 
with  the  magnificence  of  Nature.  One  little  moment, 
partly  alone  and  partly  with  Mr.  Downing,  who  knows 
how  to  be  gay  and  jocular  with  the  gay,  and  silent 
with  the  silent,  was  to  me  the  crowning  luxury  of  the 
excursion,  during  which  there  was  no  lack  of  champagne 
and  joke,  and  more  substantial  fare  yet  for  the  palate, 
together  with  polite  gentlemen  and  lovely  ladies,  both 
young  and  old.  Yes,  lovely  ladies  there  certainly  are 
here,  but  rather  pretty  and  delicate  than,  properly 
speaking,  beautiful.  A  really  beautiful  woman  I  have 
not  yet  seen  here,  but  neither  have  I  seen  a  single 
ill-favoured  countenance  or  deformed  person.  That  which 
especially  pleases  me  is  the  easy,  unembarrassed,  and  yet 
modestly  kind  intercourse  which  exists  between  the  young 
of  both  sexes. 

Completely  weary  were  we  when,  after  our  excursion 
to  the  hills,  we  reached  home  in  the  evening,  and  beau 
tiful  was  rest  in  that  lovely  quiet  home  with  the  kind 
Downings.  That  which  my  mind  has  retained  of  the 
excursion  is  the  view  of  that  bright  river,  bursting  forth 
from  the  gloomy  forests  of  earth.  It  gleams,  as  it  were, 
within  me. 

I  parted  from  Miss  Sedgwick  with  the  feeling  that  I 
should  never  like  to  part  with  her.  Her  niece,  Susan, 
was  an  agreeable  well- educated  girl.  A  young  gentleman, 
who  is  said  to  be  her  lover,  followed  her  hither. 

A  few  days  after  our  excursion  to  South  Beacon  we 
went  up  the  Hudson  to  visit  a  family  of  the  name  of 
D.,  who  belong  to  the  aristocracy  of  these  shores. 
"We  set  off  in  good  time  in  the  morning ;  the  air  was 
delicious ;  the  wind  still,  and  the  shores  shone  out  in  the 
utmost  splendour  of  their  autumnal  pomp  beneath  a 
somewhat  subdued  sunshine.  The  sails  on  the  river 
scarcely  moved,  and  above  the  heights  lay  a  sort  of  sunny 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  35 

mist,  a  light  haze  which  is  said  to  distinguish  this  period 
of  the  year,  and  that  state  of  the  atmosphere  which  is 
here  called  "  the  Indian  Summer."  It  commences,  they 
say,  at  the  end  of  October,  and  extends  often  through 
the  whole  of  November  into  December,  and  is  considered 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  the  year.  And  if  I  am 
to  judge  by  these  days,  one  can  scarcely  imagine  more 
perfect  weather ;  warm  and  calm,  the  purest,  most  delicious 
atmosphere,  sunshine  softened  by  that  light  haze  which 
seems  to  cast  a  mystical  romantic  veil  over  the  landscape 
brilliant  with  the  splendour  of  autumn.  Whence  comes 
this  Egj^ptian  veil  of  mist  ?  "  It  comes  from  the  Indians 
who  are  now  smoking  their  pipes  at  their  great  Pahaws," 
replied  the  cheerful  Mrs.  Downing ;  "  I  wish  you  to  have 
an  accurate  idea  of  things  here."  The  accurate  truth 
however  is  that  nobody  can  say  what  is  the  real  cause  of 
this  smoke -like  mist,  or  of  this  summer  in  the  midst  of 
autumn. 

But  to  return  to  our  excursion,  which  was  charming. 
We  left  the  highlands  of  the  Hudson ;  the  shores  now 
became  lower  and  the  river  wider,  embracing  islands 
on  its  bosom.  But  soon  we  perceived  in  the  distance 
a  yet  higher  and  more  massive  range  of  hills  than  I 
had  hitherto  seen,  the  magnificent  thousand-feet-high 
Katskill  mountains,  which  are  a  portion  of  the  great 
Alleghany  chain,  which  divides  North  America  from 
north  to  south. 

The  banks  of  the  river,  which  were  scattered  with 
houses,  appeared  rich  and  well  cultivated.  There  were 
no  castles,  no  ruins  here,  but  often  very  tasteful  houses 
with  terraces  and  orchards,  whole  parks  of  peach  trees. 
The  only  historical  legends  of  these  shores  are  a  few 
traditions  of  wars  with  the  Indians.  I  did  not  seem  to 
miss  the  ruins  and  the  legends  of  the  Rhine.  I  like  these 
fresh  new  scenes  which  have  a  vast  future.  We  have 
ruins  enough  in  the  Old  World.  Among  the  company 

D  2 


36  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

on  board  was  a  Shaker  in  drab  clothes,  and  a  hat  with 
broad  brim ;  in  countenance  he  looked  like  a  cross  old 
fellow,  not  at  all  a  good  representative  of  the  Shaker 
establishment.  After  a  sail  of  about  three  hours  we 
reached  Blithewood,  the  beautiful  seat  of  the  D.'s,  whither 
we  were  invited  to  a  great  breakfast.  Here,  as  in 
many  other  places,  I  observed  how  they  exclude  the 
daylight  from  the  rooms.  This  troubles  me,  who  am 
accustomed  to  our  light  rooms  in  Sweden,  and  who  love 
the  light.  But  they  say  that  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  too 
powerful  here  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  that 
they  are  obliged  as  much  as  possible  to  exclude  its  light 
from  the  rooms.  A  handsome,  stately  lady,  whose  figure 
was  of  remarkably  beautiful  proportions,  and  much 
rounder  than  is  common  among  the  ladies  I  have  yet 
seen,  received  us  kindly.  This  was  Mrs.  D.  She 
is  a  Catholic,  and  is,  I  believe,  of  an  Irish  family,  and 
her  sisters  are  Calvinists.  They  manage  however  to 
agree  together  remarkably  well,  both  in  affection  and 
good  deeds — that  central  Church  in  which  all  sects  may 
unite  in  the  name  of  the  same  Lord. 

We  were  conducted  to  our  room,  refreshed  and  dressed 
ourselves ;  then  came  breakfast  and  all  the  neighbours, 
and  I  had  to  shake  from  sixty  to  seventy  kindly  extended 
hands,  which  would  not  have  been  a  difficult  task  if  a 
deal  of  small  talk  had  not  followed,  which,  through  the 
repetition  of  the  same  word  and  thing,  became  wearisome, 
and  made  me  feel  like  a  parrot.  The  assembly  was 
beautiful  and  gay,  and  the  breakfast,  which  was  mag 
nificent,  was  closed  by  a  dance.  It  was  a  pleasure  to 
me  to  see  so  many  lovely  and  lively  young  girls, — delicate 
figures,  though  deficient  in  strength.  The  ladies  dress 
with  taste  ;  have  small  hands  and  feet,  and  remind  one 
of  the  French,  but  are  more  lovely  than  they.  Some 
thing  however  is  wanting  in  their  countenances,  but  what 
I  do  not  rightly  know — I  fancy  it  is  expression.  I  was 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  37 

not  quite  in  spirits,  and  felt  to-day  somewhat  fatigued. 
When,  however,  in  the  evening,  I  canie  forth  into  the 
open  air,  and,  accompanied  by  the  silent  Mr.  Downing, 
wandered  quietly  beside  the  glorious  calm  river,  and 
contemplated  the  masses  of  light  and  soft  velvet-like 
shadow,  which  lay  on  the  majestic  Katskill  mountains, 
behind  which  the  sun  sank  in  cloudless  splendour ;  then 
did  the  heart  expand  itself  and  breathe  freely  in  that 
sublime  and  glorious  landscape ;  then  did  I  drink  from 
the  mountain -springs ;  then  did  I  live  for  the  first  time 
that  day. 

In  the  evening  I  enjoyed  an  unusual  pleasure.  Mrs.  D. 
played  on  the  harp  and  piano,  and  sang  remarkably 
well,  with  extraordinary  power,  like  a  real  musician, 
which  I  believe  is  a  rare  thing  in  this  country.  There 
were  both  words  and  expression  in  her  singing,  and 
so  there  is  also  in  her  demeanour;  hers  is  a  noble 
figure,  with  a  free  and  independent  carriage  ;  "  she 
sustains  herself,"  as  you  would  say.  She  neither  sings 
nor  talks  by  rote.  She  sings  and  talks  out  of  her  own 
independent,  feeling,  and  thinking  soul.  Her  eldest  son, 
a  boy  of  thirteen,  has,  it  appears  to  me,  a  real  genius  for 
music,  even  though  he  broke  off  and  was  not  able  to  sing 
to  the  end — and  I  believe  that  he  really  could  not — a 
little  fantastic  song,  the  first  notes  of  which,  however, 
were  sufficient  to  foretell  a  something  beyond  talent  in 
the  boy.  He  was  not  in  the  mood,  and  in  that  state 
he  could  not  sing.  Mrs.  D.  told  me,  during  our  conver 
sation  at  table,  that  her  son  was  to  learn  a  handicraft 
trade,  because,  although  they  were  now  wealthy,  the 
time  might  come  when  they  would  be  so  no  longer, 
but  when  it  might  be  necessary  for  him  to  earn  his 
bread  as  a  common  workman;  so  uncertain  is  the 
stability  of  wealth  in  America; — w^hy  so,  I  could  not 
rightly  understand. 

The  following  day   I  again  saw   a   crowd   of  people, 


38  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

who  came  to  see  the  Swedish  stranger.  In  the  afternoon 
I  visited  two  or  three  beautiful  places  in  the  neigh 
bourhood.  On  one  of  these,  a  point  projecting  into 
the  river,  has  a  ruin  been  built,  in  which  are  placed 
various  figures  and  fragments  of  walls  and  columns, 
which  have  been  brought  from  the  remarkable  ruins 
lately  discovered  in  Central  America  or  Mexico.  The 
countenances  and  the  head-dresses  resembled  greatly 
those  of  Egyptian  statues :  I  was  struck  in  particular 
with  a  sphynx-like  countenance,  and  a  head  similar  to  that 
of  a  priest  of  Isis.  This  ruin  and  its  ornaments  in  the 
midst  of  a  wild,  romantic,  rocky,  and  wooded  promontory, 
was  a  design  in  the  best  taste. 

In  the  evening  we  left  this  beautiful  Blithewood,  its 
handsome  mistress  and  our  friendly  entertainers.  We 
returned  home  in  the  night.  The  cabin  in  which  we  sate 
was  close  and  very  hot.  Just  beside  us  sate  two  young 
men,  the  one  of  whom,  smoked  and  spat  incessantly  just 
before  Mrs.  Downing  and  myself.  "  That  gentleman 
needs  a  Dickens ! "  said  I  softly  to  Mr.  Downing.  "  But 
then,"  replied  Mr.  Downing,  in  the  same  under  tone, 
"  Dickens  would  have  committed  the  mistake  of  supposing 
him  to  be  a  gentleman  ! " 

Of  my  Blithewood  visit  I  retain  the  Katskill  moun 
tains  and  Mrs.  D.  I  made  a  little  sketch  of  her  profile 
in  my  album  (I  took  one  also  of  Miss  Sedgwick),  and 
she  gave  me  at  parting  a  beautiful  purse,  made  with  an 
unusual  kind  of  beads. 

Another  festivity  at  which  I  was  present  during  this 
time  was  at  Mrs.  Downing's  grandmother's.  It  was  a 
family  party,  on  the  occasion  of  her  ninetieth  birthday. 
She  lives  on  the  opposite  shore ;  and  there  assembled 
this  day  in  her  honour,  children  and  grandchildren,  and 
grandchildren's  children,  as  weU  as  other  near  connec 
tions,  an  assembly  of  from  fifty  to  sixty  persons.  The 
li ttle  old  lady  of  ninety  was  still  lively  and  active,  almost  as 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  39 

much  so  as  a  young  girl.  We  ate  and  drank,  and  some  toasts 
were  proposed  :  I  gave  one  for  "  The  Home  "  in  America 
as  well  as  in  Sweden.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  little 
music.  I  played  Swedish  polskas;  and  a  young  artist, 
a  Mr.  C.,  properly  a  landscape  painter,  son-in-law  of 
one  of  the  sons  or  granddaughters  of  the  family,  sang  an 
Italian  bravura  aria,  so  beautifully,  and  with  such  an 
exquisite  voice,  that  it  was  really  a  refreshment  to  hear 
him,  and  one  was  sure  that  he  had  learned  the  art 
in  Italy. 

I  have  been  entertained  at  two  other  houses  on  the 
Hudson,  and  saw  in  the  one  a  beautiful,  animated  hostess, 
and  many  beautiful  articles  of  luxury,  but  without  that 
elegant  arrangement  which  distinguishes  the  house  of 
the  Downings ;  and  in  the  other  an  original  old  lady, 
who  has  been  compared  among  the  neighbours  to  "  ma 
chere  Mere "  in  "  The  Neighbours,"  and  who  really 
gives  occasion  for  the  comparison ;  besides  which,  we 
met  there  a  remarkably  excellent  man,  Dr.  H.,  a  firm 
Swedenborgian,  and  a  more  agreeable  person  to  talk 
with  than  the  generality  of  Swedenborgians  whom  I  have 
met  with.  He  has  built  a  house  for  himself  upon  one 
of  the  terraces  of  the  Hudson.  A  splendid  lodge,  of 
grey  stone,  is  already  complete,  and  people  are  a  little 
curious  to  know  whether  a  lady  is  not  coming  into 
the  house  ;  and  it  is  maintained  that  the  heart  of  an 
amiable  young  girl  in  the  neighbourhood  is  interested  in 
the  question. 

N.B.  Dr.  H.  is  very  much  esteemed  and  liked, 
especially  by  the  ladies ;  but  he  has  hitherto  exhibited  a 
heart  of  stone  to  their  charms. 

I  have  been  much  pleased  at  this  moment  by  a  visit 
from  Bergfalk,  as  well  as  by  witnessing  his  state  of 
mind,  and  the  fresh,  unprejudiced  view  which  he  takes 
of  the  good  and  evil  in  this  New  World;  and  by  his 
warm  feeling  for  Sweden,  and  the  strong  hope  which  he 


40  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

entertains  of  her  future  development.  He  is  fresh  and 
vigorous,  and  has  a  pleasure  in  communicating  his 
thoughts.  And  although  his  English  is  every  now  and 
then  the  most  wonderful  gihberish  that  ever  was  heard, 
yet  his  thoughts  find  their  way  through  it,  and  by  it,  and 
sometimes  in  a  brilliant  manner.  Thus,  for  example : 
last  evening,  when  characterising  the  faults  and  the  merits 
of  Macaulay's  historical  work,  this  was  so  striking  as  to 
cause  the  otherwise  undemonstrative  Mr.  Downing  to 
exclaim  repeatedly,  "  Excellent !  delightful ! " 

Mr.  Downing  was  interested  by  Bergfalk  in  a  high 
degree,  and  invited  him  to  spend  the  night  there ;  but  he 
had  already  engaged  rooms  in  the  town.  We  accom 
panied  him  to  his  inn;  and  I  gave  him  Lowell's  and 
Emerson's  works  to  bear  him  company. 

To-day,  Sunday  the  21st,  as  I  continue  my  letter, 
Bergfalk  is  again  here,  and  with  him  a  Swedish  doctor, 
Uddenberg,  living  at  Barthelemi,  and  who  came  to  pay 
his  respects  to  me.  The  morning  has  been  intellectually 
rich  to  me  in  a  conversation  on  Lowell's  poem  of 
"  Prometheus ; "  and  the  manner  in  which  an  American  poet 
has  treated  this  primeval  subject  of  all  ages  and  all  poets. 
Bergfalk  again  distinguished  himself  by  his  power  of 
discriminating  the  characteristics  of  the  subjects;  and 
nothing  like  this  is  ever  thrown  away  upon  Mr.  Downing. 
At  my  request  he  read  that  fine  portion  of  Prometheus's 
defiance  of  the  old  tyrants,  in  which  the  poet  of  the  New 
"World  properly  stands  forth  in  opposition  to  those  of  the 
Old  World,  because  it  is  not,  as  in  the  Prometheus  of 
.ZEschylus,  the  joy  of  hatred  and  revenge,  in  the  con 
sciousness  that  the  power  of  the  tyrant  will  one  day  come 
to  an  end  ;  nor  as  in  Shelley,  merely  the  spirit  of  defiance, 
which  will  not  yield,  which  knows  itself  to  be  mightier 
than  Zeus  in  the  strength  of  suffering  and  of  will, — no : 
it  is  not  a  selfish  joy  which  gives  power  to  the  newly- 
created  Prometheus ;  it  is  the  certainty  which  defies  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  41 

tyrant,  and  by  his  strength  has  prepared  freedom  and 
happiness  for  the  human  race.  That  threat  with  which 
he  arms  himself  against  his  executioner,  that  defiance  by 
which  he  feels  that  he  can  crush  him,  is  prophetic  of  the 
ideal  future  of  the  new  world  of  America;  for  much 
suffering  has  rendered  keen  his  inner  vision,  and  made 
of  him  a  seer,  and  he  beholds — 

"  A  sceptre  and  a  throne  ; 
The  pipings  of  glad  shepherds  on  the  hills, 
Tending  the  flocks  no  more  to  bleed  for  thee  ; 
The  songs  of  maidens  pressing  with  white  feet 
The  vintage,  on  thine  altars  poured  no  more ; 
The  murmurous  bliss  of  lovers  underneath 
Dim  grape-vine  bowers,  whose  rosy  branches  press 
Not  half  so  close  as  their  warm  cheeks  untouched 
By  thoughts  of  thy  brute  lust ; — the  hive-like  hum 
Of  peaceful  commonwealths,  where  sunburnt  toil 
Reaps  for  itself  the  rich  earth  made  its  own 
By  its  own  labour,  lightened  with  glad  hymns 
To  an  omnipotence  which  thy  mad  bolts 
Would  cope  with  as  a  spark  with  the  vast  sea, — 
Even  the  spirit  of  free  love  and  peace, 
Duty's  own  recompense  through  life  and  death ; 
These  are  such  harvests  as  all  master-spirits 
Reap,  haply  not  on  earth,  but  reap  no  less 
Because  the  sheaves  are  bound  by  hands  not  theirs ; 
These  are  the  bloodless  daggers  wherewithal 
They  stab  fallen  tyrants,  this  their  high  revenge  : 
For  their  best  part  of  life  on  earth  is  when 
Long  after  death,  prisoned  and  pent  no  more, 
Their  thoughts,  their  wild  dreams  even,  have  become 
Part  of  the  necessary  air  men  breathe ; 
When,  like  the  moon  herself  behind  a  cloud, 
They  shed  down  light  before  us  on  life's  sea, 
That  cheers  us  to  steer  onward,  still  in  hope  ; 
Earth  with  her  twining  memories  ivies  o'er 
Their  holy  sepulchres ;  the  chainless  sea, 
In  tempest,  or  wide  calm,  repeats  their  thoughts, 
The  lightning  and  the  thunder,  all  free  things 
Have  legends  of  them  for  the  ears  of  men. 
All  other  glories  are  as  falling  stars, 
But  universal  nature  watches  theirs  : 
Such  strength  is  won  by  love  of  human  kind." 


42  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

After  this  came  Caroline  Downing,  with  her  favourite 
bard  Bryant,  the  poet  of  nature.     But  Bryant's  song  also 
is    warm   with  patriotism,   with   faith   in   the   future   of 
America,    and   in   her   sublime  mission.     Thus,  in  that 
beautiful  epic  poem,  "  The  Prairies,"  in  which  he  paints, 
as  words  can  seldom  paint,  the  illimitable  western  fields, 
in  their  sunbright,  solitary  beauty  and  grandeur,  billowy 
masses  of  verdure  and  flowers  waving  in  the  wind ;  above 
these  the  vagrant  clouds ;  and,  higher  still,  "the  sunshine, 
gleaming  above  the  vast  scene,  paradisaic,  splendid,  and 
rich,  but  silent  and  desolate  as  the  desert.     The  silence, 
however,   is   broken.     The    poet  hears  a  low  humming. 
What  is  it?     It   is  a  bee,   which   flies   forth   over  the 
flowery  plain,  and  sucks  the  honey  of  the  flowers.     The 
busy  bee   becomes  a   prophet  to   the  poet ;    and  in  its 
humming  flight  and  its  quiet  activity  he  hears  the  ad 
vancing  industry  of  the  human  race,  which  will  extend 
itself  over  the   prairies,   transform   them    into     a    new 
Paradise,  and  cause  new  and  yet  more  beautiful  flowers 
to  spring  up  : — 

"  From  the  ground 

Comes  up  the  laugh  of  children,  the  soft  voice, 
Of  maidens,  and  the  sweet  and  solemn  hymn 
Of  sabbath  worshippers.     The  low  of  herds 
Blends  with  the  rustling  of  the  heavy  grain 
Over  the  dark-brown  furrows." 

Last  of  all,  I  come  to  the  poems  of  Waldo  Emerson, 
small  in  dimensions,  but  great  in  their  spirit  and  tone ; 
and  read  aloud  a  little  dithyrambic  poem,  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  individuality  of  the  poet.  Other 
American  poets  speak  to  society ;  Emerson  always  merely 
to  the  individual ;  but  they  all  are  to  me  as  a  breeze  from 
the  life  of  the  New  World,  in  a  certain  illimitable  vast- 
ness  of  life,  in  expectation,  in  demand,  in  faith,  and  hope 
— a  something  which  makes  me  draw  a  deeper  breath, 
and,  as  it  were,  in  a  larger,  freer  world.  Thus  says 
Emerson's  poem : — 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  43 


GIVE    ALL    TO    LOVE. 

'  GIVE  all  to  love ; 
Obey  thy  heart ; 
Friends,  kindred,  days, 
Estate,  good  fame  ; 

Plans,  credit,  and  the  muse  ; 

Nothing  refuse. 
*         #         *         * 

For  it  is  a  god, 

Knows  its  own  path, 

And  the  outlets  of  the  sky. 

Tis  not  for  the  mean  ; 
It  requireth  courage  stout, 
Souls  above  doubt, 
Valour  unbending  ; 
Such  'twill  reward, 
They  shall  return 
More  than  they  were 
And  ever  ascending. 

Yet  hear  me,  yet 

One  word  more  thy  heart  behoved, 

One  pulse  more  of  firm  endeavour, 

Keep  thee  to-day, 

To-morrow,  for  ever 

Free  as  an  Arab 

Of  thy  beloved. 

Cling  with  life  to  the  maid ; 
But  when  the  surprise 
Vague  shadow  of  surmise 
Flits  across  her  bosom  young 
Of  a  joy  apart  from  thee, 
Free  be  she,  fancy  free, 
Do  not  thou  detain  a  hem, 
Nor  the  palest  rose  she  flung 
From  her  summer  diadem. 

Though  thou  loved  her  as  thyself, 

As  a  self  of  purer  clay, 

Though  her  parting  dims  the  day, 

Stealing  grace  from  all  alive, 

Heartily  know, 

When  half-gods  go 

The  Gods  arrive. 


44  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

This  is  noble  stoicism.  Among  Emerson's  poems 
are  some  which  bear  witness  to  a  less  noble  spirit, 
— to  a  self-consciousness  which  rejoices  in  its  contempt 
of  the  world;  that  knows  itself  to  have  enough,  whilst 
the  world  perishes  of  hunger ;  a  something  which  re 
minds  one  of  the  answer  of  the  ant  to  the  grasshopper, 
in  La  Fontaine's  fable.  But  this  shadow  passes  away, 
as  do  all  clouds,  from  the  clear  heaven  of  the  poet,  having 
not  there  their  abiding  home.  One  strongly  prominent 
feature  in  him  is  his  love  of  the  strong  and  the  great. 
Thus  he  speaks  in  his  poem,  "  The  World-Soul :  "- 

"  Thanks  to  the  morning  light, 
Thanks  to  the  seething  sea, 
To  the  uplands  of  New  Hampshire, 
To  the  green-haired  forest  free ; 
Thanks  to  each  man  of  courage, 
To  the  maids  of  holy  mind, 
To  the  boy  with  his  games  undaunted 
"Who  never  looks  behind." 

But  nobler  even  than  this  is  the  song  of  our  Geijer :  — 

"  I  greet  with  love  each  field  and  grove, 
And  thou,  blue  billowy  sea,  I  love  ; 
Life-giving  light  in  depth  and  height, 
Thou  heavenly  sun,  art  my  delight ! 
But  more  than  all  earth's  fair  array, 
More  than  the  blue  waves'  dancing  play, 
Love  I 

The  dawning  light  of  heavenly  rest 
Within  a  trembling  human  breast !  " 

Of  this  light  Emerson  knows  nothing.  Emerson  has, 
in  other  respects,  many  points  of  resemblance  with  Geijer, 
but  he  stands  as  much  below  him  as  heathenism  stands 
below  Christianity. 

I  cannot,  perhaps,  do  full  justice  to  Emerson's  poems 
by  my  translation ;  I  never  was  very  clever  at  translation ; 
and  I  fancy  it  almost  impossible  to  render  the  poetic 
element  of  Emerson  into  another  tongue,  because  it  is  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  45 

so  peculiar  a  kind,  and  has,  like  the  character  of  the  poet, 
its  own  extraordinary  rhythm  and  spirit. 

Henry  Longfellow,  the  author  of  "  Evangeline,"  is 
perhaps  the  best  read  and  the  most  popular  of  the  poets 
of  America,  hut  this  is  owing  to  qualities  which  are 
common  alike  to  the  elder  poets  of  all  countries,  rather 
than  to  any  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  New  World's 
poets.  Those  sentiments,  whether  happy  or  sorrowful, 
which  exist  in  the  breast  of  every  superior  human  being, 
are  peculiarly  his  domain,  and  here  he  exercises  his 
sway ;  and  in  particular,  in  his  delineation  of  the  more 
delicate  changes  of  feeling.  In  "  Evangeline  "  alone  has  he 
dealt  with  an  American  subject,  and  described  American 
scenery. 

But  enough  now,  my  sweet  sister,  of  this  poesy  of 
morning.  We  will  now  have  our  dinner.  Men  of  the 
two  countries  are  invited,  and  yet  a  third,  namely,  the 
Swedish  Consul,  from  Boston,  Mr.  Benzon,  who  is  coming 
to  see  me. 

In  the  Evening. — The  day  is  ended  with  its  changing 
scenes  and  impressions.  If  I  could  only  take  everything 
more  coolly !  But  I  am  too  ardent,  too  easily  excited. 
Every  impression  goes  directly  to  my  heart — and  there  it 
remains  too  strongly  impressed.  I  am  alone  in  my  room, 
and  see  from  my  window,  through  the  dark  yet  star-bright 
night  the  steamboats  which  pass  along  the  Hudson,  and 
send  forth  from  their  chimneys  sulphur-blue  and  yellow 
flames. 

To-morrow  morning  I  am  going  with  the  Downings 
to  visit  some  of  their  best  friends,  a  family  of  the  name 
of  H.,  who  live  on  the  Hudson,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Washington  Irving.  And  next  week  I  return  to  New 
York,  there  to  begin  my  campaign,  for  which  this  little 
taste  of  rural  life  and  society  is  merely  a  prelude. 

Among  the  people  who,  during  this  time,  have  come  to  see 
me  are  in  particular  a  married  couple,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S., 


46  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

who  came  hither  with  their  little  baby  from  New  York, 
solely  to  offer  me  their  house  as  my  home  when  there. 
They  were  so  beautiful  and  so  earnestly  kind ;  there 
appeared  to  me  to  be  something  so  pure,  so  single-minded 
about  them ;  they  seemed  to  speak  so  entirely  from  their 
own  honest  hearts,  that  I  was  glad  to  accept  their  invi 
tation,  and  to  arrange  to  go  to  them  before  I  took  up  my 
quarters  in  any  other  homes,  :as  I  had  promised  to  do  for 
a  time.  Among  others  that  of  Miss  Lynch.  It  seems 
as  if  I  should  scarcely  be  obliged  to  pay  anything  for  my 
living  in  this  country,  if  I  am  to  continue  being  thus  enter 
tained.  But  I  must  not  expect  that  it  will  be  thus 
everywhere.  Besides,  it  has  its  disadvantages,  as  well  as 
its  advantages  and  its  great  pleasures. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.,  who  are  of  the  class  called  Socialists 
and  Abolitionists,  and  who  belong  to  the  Liberal 
Movement  Party  in  the  country,  are  universally  acknow 
ledged  to  be  remarkably  noble  and  estimable  people. 
"  From  them,"  said  Mr.  Downing,  "  you  will  hear  what 
is  going  forward  in  this  party,  and  you  will  probably 
see  at  their  house  William  Henry  Channing,  one  of 
our  most  distinguished  lecturers  and  extempore  speakers, 
and  through  him  you  may  become  acquainted  with 
Emerson." 

I  cannot  tell  you,  my  Agatha,  how  fortunate  I  esteem 
myself,  that  immediately  at  the  commencement  of  my 
visit  here,  I  have  come  into  contact  with  so  profoundly 
thinking  and  so  universally  comprehensive  a  mind  as  that 
of  Mr.  Downing,  and  who,  besides,  is  so  indescribably 
kind  to  me,  and  so  careful  that  I  shall  derive  every 
possible  advantage  from  my  journey,  and  see  everything, 
both  good  and  bad,  in  their  true  light.  He  never  dictates, 
never  instructs  me,  but  now  and  then,  and  as  if  by  chance, 
he  mentions  to  me  the  names  of  persons  who  are  active  for 
the  future  of  the  New  World  in  one  way  or  another,  and 
makes  me  observant  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  country. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  47 

I  notice,  among  other  things,  with  what  precision  all 
branches  of  intellectual  labour  seem  to  be  carried  on ; 
and  how  easily  ability  and  talent  make  their  way,  find 
their  place  and  their  sphere  of  action,  become  known  and 
acknowledged. 

Mr.  Downing  has  mentioned  to  me  Horace  Mann  as 
one  of  the  persons  who  have  most  effectually  laboured  for 
the  future  ;  as  an  individual  who  has  brought  about,  by 
his  enthusiasm  and  determination,  a  great  reform  in 
the  work  of  instruction ;  who  has  laboured  for  the 
erection  of  beautiful  new  schools  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  has  infused  a  new  life  into  the  organisation 
of  schools.  It  appears  that  the  reformers  and  the 
lecturers  who  develope  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  life 
in  America,  and  call  forth  its  ideal,  come  from  the 
northern  states,  from  New  England,  and  in  particular 
from  Massachusetts,  the  oldest  home  of  the  Pilgrims 
and  the  Puritans. 

Of  that  which  he  himself  has  done,  Mr.  Downing 
speaks  with  the  utmost  modesty ;  but  I  heard  from 
Miss  Sedgwick  that  few  men  in  the  United  States  are  so 
universally  known,  or  so  generally  influential  as  he.  His 
works  on  architecture,  on  gardening,  on  flowers  and  fruits 
— and  all  of  which  are  calculated  to  ennoble  the  taste,  to 
make  the  purest  productions  in  their  branches  of  science 
and  art  accessible  to  every  man — these  works  are  to  be 
found  everywhere,  and  nobody,  whether  he  be  rich  or 
poor,  builds  a  house  or  lays  out  a  garden  without  con 
sulting  Downing's  works.  Every  young  couple  who  sets 
up  housekeeping  buys  them. 

"It  happens,"  said  Mr.  Downing  modestly,  "that  I 
came  at  a  time  when  people  began  universally  to  feel  the 
necessity  of  information  about  building  houses  and  laying 
out  gardens." 

He  is  what  people  call  here  "  a  self-made  man,"  that  is 
to  say,  a  man  who  has  less  to  thank  education  for  what  he 


48  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

is  than  his  own  endeavours.     "  He  is  one  of  our  hest 
men,"  said  Miss  Sedgwick. 

It  will  readily  be  supposed  that  it  was  painful  to  me 
to  leave  him  and  his  truly  sweet  and  kind  little  wife. 
Mr.  Downing  has  drawn  up  for  me  a  proposed  route  of 
travel — the  plan  of  a  journey  for  one  year  through  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  furnished  me  with  letters  to  his 
friends  in  the  different  States.  I  still  had  a  deal  to 
say  to  you  about  my  happiness  in  being  here,  my  hap 
piness  in  the  new  vitality  which  seems  given  to  me, 
although  I  feel  that  the  outer  life  is  a  little  wearisome 
sometimes;  and  I  expect  to  have  to  pay  for  it  one  of 
these  days.  But  ah !  how  few  there  are  who  have  to 
complain  of  having  too  many  objects  of  interest,  of  expe 
riencing  too  much  good  will !  My  beloved  Agatha,  think 
of  me  in  thy  prayers ;  and  that  I  know  thou  dost,  and 
thank  God  for  me  that  He  has  so  abundantly  fulfilled  my 
secret  prayers,  has  satisfied  my  hunger  and  my  thirst,  and 
nourished  me  with  His  riches  and  His  goodness ! 

In  the  Morning. — Yet  once  more  a  greeting  from  the 
beautiful  banks  of  the  Hudson  from  the  heights  of 
Newburgh,  before  I  leave  them,  perhaps  for  ever. 
Mr.  Downing  says,  indeed,  that  I  must  return  to  them 
next  year ;  but  it  is  long  till  then,  and  I  must  travel  far 
and  see  very  much. 

Again  a  beautiful  morning.  The  river  is  bright  as  a 
mirror ;  hundreds  of  little  vessels  glide  softly,  like  swim 
ming  sea-gulls,  on  the  bosom  of  the  water  between  the 
lofty  hills.  I  wonder  how  they  are  able  to  move.  The 
wind  seems  to  sleep.  Over  the  river  and  the  mountains, 
over  the  golden  woods,  which  assume  every  day  a  yet 
more  golden  hue,  over  the  white  glittering  villages  with 
their  church  spires,  and  in  the  bosom  of  the  wooded  hills 
rests  the  thin,  white  misty  veil  of  the  Indian  summer.  It 
is  a  scene  of  which  the  character  is  grand  and  calmly 
romantic.  I  feel  and  see  it,  but  not  merely  in  external 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  49 

nature.  This  Indian  summer  with  its  mystical  life,  its 
thin  veil  cast  over  the  golden  woods  and  mountains — I  feel 
it  in  my  soul.  I  look  around  me  on  nature,  and  ask,  "  Is 
it  I  who  live  in  thee,  or  dost  thou  awaken  this  life  in  my 
soul ?  " 

I  see  the  beautiful  well-built  little  houses,  with  their 
orchards  and  grounds  which  lie  Like  pearls  set  in  the 
emerald  green  frame  of  the  river  !  How  much  is  con 
tained  in  them  of  that  which  is  most  valuable  in  the  life 
of  the  new  world.  How  beautiful  and  perfect  seems 
here  private  life,  engrafted  as  it  is  into  public  life ;  and 
what  a  pleasure  it  is  to  me  that  I  have  become  acquainted 
with  many  of  the  families  inhabiting  these  small  homes 
on  the  banks  of  this  great  and  glorious  river  ! 

Not  far  from  Mr.  Downing' s  villa  is  a  beautiful  country 
seat,  inhabited  by  four  sisters,  all  unmarried.  A  good 
brother,  who  had  become  wealthy  by  trade,  built  this 
house,  and  bought  the  land  around  it  for  his  sisters. 
Some  years  afterwards,  the  brother  fell  into  misfortunes  : 
he  lost  all  that  he  was  possessed  of.  The  sisters  now 
took  upon  themselves  the  education  of  his  children, — he 
has  now  his  home  with  them.  They  are  excellent  and 
agreeable  women,  who  know  equally  well  how  to  converse 
seriously  or  merrily.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river  a  brick- 
maker  has  built  himself  a  lovely  villa.  This  honourable  man 
— for  so  he  seems  to  be,  and  so  he  really  is — has  been  here 
two  or  three  times  to  present  me  with  flowers,  and  invite 
me  to  his  villa.  Mr.  Downing  has  called  my  attention  to  a 
beautiful  little  house,  a  frame-house,  with  green  verandah 
and  garden  just  in  this  neighbourhood.  "It  belongs," 
said  he,  "  to  a  man  who  in  the  day  drives  cart-loads  of 
stone  and  rubbish  for  making  the  roads.  In  this  is  the 
working-man  of  the  new  world  superior  to  him  of  the 
old.  He  can  here  by  the  hard  labour  of  his  hands  obtain 
the  more  refined  pleasures  of  life,  a  beautiful  home,  and 
the  advantages  of  education  for  his  family  much  more 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

quickly.  And  here  lie  may  obtain  these  if  he  will.  In 
Europe  the  greater  number  of  workpeople  cannot  obtain 
them  do  what  they  will. 

At  this  moment  an  explosion  thunders  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Hudson,  and  I  see  huge  blocks  of  stone 
hurled  into  the  air,  and  then  fall  into  the  water,  which 
foams  and  boils  in  consequence  :  it  is  a  rock,  which  is 
being  blasted  with  gunpowder  on  a  line  of  railway  now  in 
progress  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  where  the 
power  of  steam  on  land  will  compete  with  the  power  of 
steam  on  water.  To  hurl  mountains  out  of  the  way ;  to 
bore  through  them ;  to  form  tunnels ;  to  throw  mountains 
into  the  water  as  a  foundation  for  roads  in  places  where 
it  is  necessary  for  it  to  go  over  the  water ;  all  this  these 
Americans  regard  as  nothing.  They  have  a  faith  to 
remove  mountains. 

Now  come  the  steam-boats  thundering  like  tempest  in 
the  mountains.  Two  or  three  chase  each  other  like 
immense  meteors;  one  amongst  them  comes  along 
heavily,  labouring  and  puffing,  dragging  along  a  large 
fleet  of  larger  and  smaller  craft.  New  York  receives 
butter,  and  cheese,  and  cattle,  and  many  other  good 
things  from  the  country ;  and  the  country,  with  its  towns 
and  rural  abodes,  receives  coffee  and  tea,  and  wine, 
and  wearing-apparel,  and  many  other  things  from  New 
York,  and  through  New  York,  from  Europe.  The  little 
town  of  Newburgh  maintains  alone  by  its  trade  from  the 
country  and  back  two  or  three  steam-boats.  When  one 
sees  the  number,  and  the  magnificence  of  the  steam-boats 
on  the  Hudson,  one  can  scarcely  believe  the  fact,  that  it 
is  not  more  than  thirty  years  since  Fulton  made  here 
his  first  experiment  with  steam-power  on  the  river,  and 
that  amid  general  distrust  of  the  undertaking.  He  says 
himself,  when  speaking  on  this  subject : — 

"  When  I  was  about  to  build  my  first  steam-boat,  the 
public  of  New  York  in  part  regarded  it  with  indifference, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  51 

in  part  with  contempt,  as  an  entirely  foolish  undertaking. 
My  friends  were  polite,  but  they  were  shy  of  me.  They 
listened  with  patience  to  my  explanations,  but  with  a 
decided  expression  of  disbelief  in  their  countenances. 
As  I  went  daily  to  and  from  the  place  where  my  boat 
was  building,  I  often  lingered  unknown  near  the  idle 
groups  of  strangers  who  were  collected  there,  and 
listened  to  their  remarks  respecting  the  new  locomo 
tive.  Their  language  was  always  that  of  scorn  and 
persecution.  People  laughed  aloud,  and  made  jokes  at 
my  expense ;  and  reckoned  up  the  fallacy  and  loss  of 
money  on  '  Mr.  Fulton's  Folly,'  as  the  undertaking  was 
constantly  called.  Never  did  I  meet  with  an  encouraging 
remark,  an  animating  hope,  or  a  warm  wish. 

"  At  length  came  the  clay  when  the  experiment  was  to 
be  tried.  To  me  it  was  a  moment  of  the  utmost  import 
ance.  I  had  invited  many  of  my  friends  to  go  on  board 
and  witness  the  first  successful  voyage.  Many  of  these 
did  me  the  kindness  to  come,  but  it  was  evident  that 
they  did  so  reluctantly,  and  in  the  belief  that  they  should 
become  the  witnesses  of  my  humiliation,  and  not  of  my 
triumph ;  and  I  know  very  well  that  there  was  sufficient 
reason  to  doubt  of  my  success.  The  machinery  was 
new,  and  ill  made.  A  great  portion  of  it  was  prepared  by 
artisans  unaccustomed  to  such  work ;  and  difficulties 
might  easily  arise,  also,  from  other  causes.  The  hour 
arrived  at  which  the  boat  was  to  begin  to  move.  My 
friends  stood  in  groups  on  deck.  Their  looks  indi 
cated  uneasiness,  mingled  with  fear :  they  were  silent  and 
dejected.  The  signal  was  given,  and  the  boat  was  put  in 
motion ;  it  advanced  a  short  distance,  then  stopped,  and 
became  immovable.  The  former  silence  now  gave  place 
to  murmurs  and  displeasure,  and  disquiet  whisperings, 
and  shrugging  of  shoulders.  I  heard  on  all  sides  '  I  said 
it  would  be  so ; '  'It  is  a  foolish  undertaking ; '  '  I  wish 
we  were  all  well  out  of  it.' 

E    2 


62  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  I  mounted  on  the  platform,  and  told  my  friends  that 
I  did  not  know  what  was  the  cause  of  the  stoppage,  but 
that  if  they  would  be  calm,  and  give  me  half  an  hour's 
time,  I  would  either  continue  the  voyage  or  give  it  up 
entirely.  I  went  down  to  the  engine,  and  very  soon 
discovered  an  unimportant  oversight  in  the  arrangement : 
this  was  put  to  rights.  The  boat  began  to  move  once 
more.  We  left  New  York ;  we  passed  through  the  High 
lands  ;  we  arrived  at  Albany !  But  even  then  was 
mistrust  stronger  than  positive  proof.  It  was  doubted 
whether  the  thing  could  be  carried  through,  and  if  so, 
whether  it  would  ever  lead  to  any  great  advantage." 

This  was  about  thirty  years  since ;  and  now  half  the 
human  race  flies  over  land  and  sea  upon  Fulton's  wings  ! 
But  even  in  the  New  World  first  discoveries  have  to 
contend  with  trouble  and  opposition. 

The  dew  of  morning  lies  upon  the  soft  grass-plat  before 
my  window,  and  the  beautiful  groups  of  flowers  and  trees 
are  glittering  with  it ;  among  these  is  the  little  magnolia, 
with  beautiful  light-red  seed-vessels ;  everything  is  beauti 
ful  and  peaceful,  and — that  great,  rich  scene,  the  life  upon 
the  river  below !  I  should  like  to  live  beside  a  large  river 
like  this.  What  great  thoughts,  what  life  is  there  not  in 
it,  from  its  commencement  in  the  fountains  of  the  clouds, 
in  the  cradle  of  the  hills,  and  during  its  course  through 
the  valleys  and  the  fields  of  earth,  growing  ever  mightier 
as  it  advances  ! 

As  guests  the  affluent  cities  it  inviteth, 

And  flowery  meadows  gather  round  its  knees. — TEGNER. 

It  is  a  benefactor  wherever  it  goes ;  it  salutes  and 
makes  festive ;  confers  benefits  and  blessings ;  but  it 
takes  no  notice  of  this ;  it  pauses  not,  neither  rests. 

Lands  it  baptises  with  its  name  and  flows  on ; 

A  hero's  life !     Then  hastens  he  onward  to  his  goal, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  63 

the  ocean :  there  lie  finds  rest — rest  worthy  of  a  heroic 
soul — peace  in  the  infinite,  the  great :  sufficient  for  all. 

I  would  willingly  live  by  the  Hudson  if  I  did  not  know 
a  river  yet  dearer  to  me  :  it  is  called  Gotha  River.  Our 
Arsta  is  charming  beside  its  salt  waves.  But  I  would 
rather  have  a  little  place  beside  the  river  Gotha  ;  and  I 
fancy  that  you  would  be  better  there,  on  the  western  coast 
of  Sweden,  than  on  the  eastern,  and  the  colder. 

I  must  now  leave  you,  to  write  other  letters.  Mr. 
Downing  will  also  write  a  few  words  to  you  and  to 
mamma.  I  yesterday  proposed  a  toast,  your  health,  and 
we  drank  it  in  champagne. 

Kind  greeting  to  relations  and  friends,  and  say  some 
thing  especially  cordial  to  Beata  Afzelius  from  me. 


LETTER  IV. 

BROOKLYN,  November  5th,  1849. 

MY  SWEET  SISTER, — Again  in  New  York,  or  in  that 
portion  of  the  great  city  which  is  called  Brooklyn,  and 
which  is  separated  from  New  York  by  the  so-called  East 
River,  and  which  will  be  a  city  of  itself,  and  which  has 
also  a  right  to  be  so  for  its  own  sake.  Brooklyn  is  as 
quiet  as  New  York  is  bewildering  and  noisy :  it  is  built 
upon  the  heights  of  Long  Island;  has  glorious  views 
over  the  wide  harbour,  and  quiet  broad  streets,  planted 
on  each  side  with  acanthus  trees,  a  kind  of  Chinese  tree, 
and  I  believe  of  the  acacia  family,  which  has  a  leaf  like 
our  ash,  only  much  broader,  and  which  bears  long  pods. 
There  is  also  another  kind  of  tree,  with  a  taller  stem,  which 
gives  shade  and  a  peaceful  and  rural  character  to  the 
streets.  It  is  said  that  the  merchants  of  New  York  go 
over  to  Brooklyn,  where  they  have  their  house  and  home, 
to  sleep.  The  friend  with  whom.  I  am  living,  Marcus  S., 


54  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

has  his  place  of  business  in  New  York  and  his  proper 
home  here  in  Brooklyn,  one  of  the  very  prettiest  rural 
homes,  by  name  "  Kose  Cottage,"  which  he  himself 
built,  and  around  which  he  has  himself  planted  trees, 
covered  arbours  with  trailing  vines,  has  sown  the  fields 
with  maize,  and  other  vegetables,  so  that  the  place  has  the 
united  character  of  park  and  garden.  From  this  place 
he  drives  every  morning  to  New  York,  and  hither 
he  returns  every  evening,  but  not  merely  to  sleep,  but 
to  rest,  and  enjoy  himself  with  wife,  children,  and  friends. 
Rose  Cottage  lies  just  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town 
(you  must  not  imagine  it  a  little  town,  but  one  which 
has  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  its  own  proper 
town-house,  very  magnificent,  and  from  fifty  to  sixty 
churches),  and  the  country,  with  wooded  heights  and 
green  fields,  may  be  seen  therefrom  on  three  sides.  But 
houses  are  now  building  at  various  distances,  and 
threaten  soon  to  shut  out  the  country.  It  may,  however, 
be  some  years  yet  before  Eose  Cottage  comes  into  the 
city.  I  shall  now  remain  here  a  little  while  before  I  set 
off  to  Massachusetts  and  Boston. 

Much,  very  much,  had  I  to  tell  you,  but  alas  !  I  have 
neither  the  time  nor  the  necessary  repose ;  and  I  must 
here  give  you  my  life  more  as  a  compendium  than  I  did 
in  Denmark.  My  impressions  of  life  here  are  more  great, 
more  massive,  on  a  broader  scale,  so  to  say :  I  cannot 
yet  bring  them  under  control,  cannot  yet  deal  with 
them ;  I  cannot  give  them  expression.  I  have  a  feeling 
of  the  forms  in  the  block,  but  it  will  require  time  and 
labour  to  hew  them  out.  This  much,  however,  is  certain  : 
the  effect  of  my  American  journey,  as  far  as  myself 
am  concerned,  is  altogether  quite  different  to  what  I 
expected.  I  came  hither  to  breathe  a  new  and  fresher 
atmosphere  of  life ;  to  observe  the  popular  life,  institu 
tions,  and  circumstances  of  a  new  country ;  to  become 
clearer  in  my  own  mind  on  certain  questions  connected 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  55 

with  the  development  of  nations  and  people  ;  and  in 
particular,  to  study  the  women  and  the  homes  of  the 
New  World,  and  from  the  threshold  of  the  home  to  obtain 
a  view  of  the  future  of  humanity,  because,  as  the  river  is 
born  from  the  springs  of  heaven,  so  is  the  life  and  the 
fate  of  a  people  born  from  the  hidden  life  of  the  home. 

I  came,  in  a  word,  to  occupy  myself  with  public  affairs ; 
and  it  is  private  affairs,  it  is  the  individual  which  seizes 
upon  my  interest,  my  feelings,  my  thoughts.  I  came 
with  a  secret  intention  of  breaking  myself  loose  from 
fiction  and  its  subjects,  and  of  living  with  thinkers  for 
other  purposes ;  and  I  am  compelled  towards  it  more 
forcibly  than  ever;  compelled  involuntarily,  both  by 
thought  and  feeling,  towards  fiction ;  compelled  to  bring 
into  life  forms,  scenes,  and  circumstances,  which,  as  dim 
shadows,  have  for  twenty  years  existed  in  the  background 
of  my  soul.  And  in  this  so-called  realist  country,  but 
which  has  more  poetical  life  in  it  than  people  have  any 
idea  of  in  Europe,  have  I  already,  "in  petto,"  experienced 
and  written  more  of  the  romance  of  life,  than  I  have 
done  for  many  years.  And  I  shall  continue  to  do  so 
during  my  residence  here. 

When  I  became  aware  that,  from  my  waking  in  the 
morning,  I  was  occupied  in  my  innermost  work-room,  not 
with  American  affairs  and  things,  but  with  my  own  ideal 
creations,  influenced  by  the  interest  which  everything 
that  surrounded  me,  and  which  my  new  circumstances 
excited  within  me,  I  then  gave  up  the  thought  of 
attempting  to  do  anything  else  but  what  God  had  given 
me  to  do.  I  must  also  here  employ  my  talent,  and 
follow  my  own  vocation,  and  let  fate  and  circumstances 
make  of  it  what  they  must  and  will. 

I  shall,  as  hitherto,  study  the  world  of  private  life,  but 
shall  allow  the  air  and  life  of  the  New  World,  that  great 
world's  life,  to  flow  into  it,  and  give  to  it  greater  effect. 
Thus  would  I  always  have  it  to  be.  I  must  work  it  out 


56  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

better  hereafter.     I  have  long  had  a  presentiment  of  the 
romance   of  life,  in  its  infinite   greatness   and  depth  of 
feeling.     When   it   dawned  before  my  glance,  that  first 
view  of  a  transfigured  world,  never  shall  I  forget  that 
heavenly  Aurora,  which  was,  which  is,  which  will  con 
tinue  for  ever  to  be  a  bright  spot  in  my  earthly  life.     For 
that  I  have  to  thank  Sweden.     Clouds,  however,  veiled  it 
for  a  moment ;  I  did  not  see  it  clearly,  or  rather,  I  could 
no   longer   recal   it  in   its   first   beauty.      Now   again  I 
behold  it ;  and  I  predict  that  for  its  perfect  daybreak  I 
shall  have  to  thank — America.     My  life,  also,  in  and  with 
this   new  world,    assumes   a   romantic   form.     It  is  not 
merely  a  new  continent,  a  new  form  of  things,  with   cen 
turies  for  its  future  which  I  have  here  to  observe  ;  it  is  a 
living  soul,  a  great  character,   an  individual  mind,  with 
which  I  must  become  acquainted,  live  and  converse  with 
during  a  profoundly  earnest  intercourse.     How  I  desire 
to  see  its  characteristic  features,  to  listen  to  its  reve 
lations,   its   unconsciously  oracular   words   regarding  its 
life  and  its  future  !     And  that  great,  universal  hospitality 
with  which  this  great  new  world  receives  me,  makes  me 
feel  that  it  is  a  heart,  a  living  spirit  which  meets  me  in  it. 
Now  for  a  little  of  the  exterior  of  my  life.     I  last  left 
you   when   I   was  just   about   to   pay   a  visit  with   Mr. 
Downing  to  Mr.  H.  and  his  family.     As  we  came  down 
to  the  bridge  at  Newburgh  two  men  were  there,  the  one 
fat,  and  the  other   lean,  who  were   talking  loudly,   and 
with  so  much  warmth,  that  they  seemed  to  be  in  a  state 
of  anger  with  each  other.     "Everybody  who  goes  with 
this  steam-boat  is  robbed ! "  exclaimed  the  one  ;  "  it  is 
full  of  pickpockets  and  rogues  !"     "Let  everyone  who  is 
carefuUrf  his  life,"  cried  the  other,  "  take  care  not  to  go 
in  the  boat  he  recommends  :  it  has  a  cracked  boiler,  and 
will  blow  up  before  long  !" — "That  is  not  true,  but  the 
greatest  lie  ! "  returned  the  first,   and  they  cast  terrible 
glances  at  each  other  from  under  their  contracted  eye- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  57 

brows,  whilst  they  continued  to  go  on  commending  their 
own  boats  and  abusing  each  other's. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  "  said  I  to  Mr.  Downing, 
who  smiled  quietly,  and  replied :  "  Here  is  an  opposition. 
Two  vessels  are  emulous  for  passengers ;  and  these 
fellows  are  hired  by  the  two  parties  to  puff  their  boats. 
They  act  this  part  every  day,  and  it  means  nothing 
at  all." 

I  observed,  also,  that  whilst  they  cast  the  most  ferocious 
glances  at  each  other,  there  was  frequently  a  smile  on 
their  lips  at  the  ready  abuse  which  they  poured  out 
against  each  other's  boats,  probably  alike  innocent,  and 
alike  safe,  the  one  as  the  other ;  and  the  people  around 
them  laughed  also,  or  did  not  trouble  themselves  the  least 
about  their  contention.  I  saw  that  the  whole  thing  was  a 
comedy,  and  wondered  only  how  they  could  endure  to 
play  it  so  often. 

Mr.  Downing  had  already  made  choice  of  his  boat : 
and  we  had  not  long  been  on  board  before  the  captain 
sent  to  offer  "  Miss  Bremer  and  her  friends  "  free  passage 
by  the  steamer  as  well  as  by  the  railway  of  the  Hudson. 
And  thus  by  means  of  my  good  name  and  American 
politeness,  we  sailed  down  the  Hudson  in  the  warm, 
calm  summer  air.  But  the  brickmaker,  Mr.  A.,  who  had 
already  declared  himself  as  my  friend,  had  brought  me 
beautiful  flowers,  invited  me  to  his  villa  by  the  Hudson, 
and  discovered  some  good  phrenological  developments  in 
my  forehead,  here  seized  upon  me,  and  conducted  me  to 
his  wife,  who  introduced  me  to  a  poet,  whose  verses,  she 
maintained  I  must  have  read ;  and  the  poet  introduced 
three  ladies,  and  the  three  ladies  various  other  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  I  became,  as  it  were,  walled  in,  felt  as  hot  as 
if  in  an  oven,  and  fled  out  of  the  saloon  to  my  silent 
friend  on  deck,  upbraiding  him  because  he  had  given  me 
up  as  a  prey  to  the  natives  of  the  country.  Nevertheless, 
I  very  much  liked  my  friend  the  brickmaker,  who  is  a 


58  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

broad,  substantial,  kind  creature,  with  an  open  heart  and 
countenance.  I  liked  also  the  poet,  who  was  evidently  a 
lively  and  good-tempered  person,  only  that  I  had  not  read 
his  verses,  and  all  these  my  new  friends  were  too  many 
for  me.  I  was  now  able  to  sit  silently  on  deck  with  the 
silent  Mr.  Downing ;  but  yet,  with  the  consciousness  that 
I  inwardly  conversed  with  him,  that  his  glance  rested 
upon  the  same  objects  as  mine,  and  that  his  mind  received 
them  and  judged  of  them,  if  not  as  I  did,  yet  in  a  manner 
which  I  could  understand,  because  I  understood  him. 
Now  and  then  a  word  was  uttered,  now  and  then  a  remark 
was  made,  and  all  was  cheerful  and  amusing.  How 
pleasant  is  such  companionship  ! 

When  we  left  the  steamboat  we  took  our  places  on  the 
Hudson  Eailway,  the  same  which  is  in  progress  opposite 
to  Newburgh,  and  along  which  we  flew  with  arrow-like 
speed  to  Mr.  H.'s  villa,  which  lies  upon  a  height  by  the 
river- side.  There  we  were  soon  in  the  midst  of  a 
beautiful  home  and  domestic  circle.  The  father  of 
the  family,  Mr.  H.,  is  the  son  of  the  general  of  that 
name,  the  contemporary  and  friend  of  Washington,  and 
one  of  the  great  men  of  the  American  War  of  Inde 
pendence.  Mr.  H.,  his  wife,  a  still  handsome  elderly 
lady,  of  quiet  motherly  appearance,  a  son,  and  three 
daughters,  constitute  the  family.  Mrs.  S.,  the  married 
daughter,  whose  praise,  as  a  woman  remarkably  gifted 
both  in  heart  and  head,  I  had  heard  from  many  people, 
gave  me  an  invitation  to  visit  with  her  the  schools 
and  various  other  benevolent  institutions  of  New  York, 
which  I  gratefully  accepted.  The  two  younger,  unmarried 
daughters,  Mary  and  Angelica,  seemed  to  me  like  types  of 
the  two  female  characters  which  are  often  introduced  in 
Cooper's  novels.  Mary  is  of  a  lively,  ardent  character, 
full  of  energy;  she  has  bright  brown  eyes,  is  witty 
and  merry  in  conversation.  Angelica  is  Madonna-like, 
gentle  and  fair,  a  beautiful,  noble,  and,  in  mine  and  many 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  59 

other  people's  eyes,  a  most  highly  attractive  being.  I 
remarked  in  particular  the  charm  of  her  voice,  and  her 
movement,  and  how,  without  asking  any  questions,  she 
could,  even  with  ladies,  set  a  conversation  afloat,  and 
keep  it  up  with  animation. 

Mr.  H.,  the  father,  took  me  out  with  him  to  visit 
various  small  farmers  of  the  district,  so  that  I  might 
see  something  of  their  circumstances.  At  two  of  the 
houses  we  arrived  just  at  dinner-time,  and  I  saw  the 
tables  abundantly  supplied  with  meat  and  cakes  of  Indian 
meal,  vegetables,  and  fruit,  as  well  as  with  the  most  beau 
tiful  white  bread.  The  houses  were  for  the  most  part 
"  frame-houses,"  that  is  to  say,  a  sort  of  neatly-built 
wooden  house;  the  rooms  had  large  windows,  which  were 
light  and  clean.  It  was  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  converse 
with  Mr.  H.,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  country, 
and  a  warm  friend  of  its  free  institutions,  the  excellence 
of  which  he  has  had  an  opportunity  of  testing  during  a 
long  official  life. 

The  day  was  beautiful,  but  a  little  cool  in  the  wind — 
not  a  "  well  -mingled  air,"  as  you  are  accustomed  to 
call  it.  And  the  air  here  has  something  so  keen,  so 
penetrating,  that  I  am  affected  by  it  as  I  never  was  in 
Sweden. 

There  was  a  whole  crowd  of  strangers  to  dinner,  among 
whom  was  Washington  Irving,  a  man  of  about  sixty,  with 
large  beautiful  eyes,  a  large  well-formed  nose,  a  coun 
tenance  still  handsome,  in  which  youthful  little  dimples 
and  smiles  bear  witness  to  a  youthfully  fresh  and 
humorous  disposition  and  soul.  He  must  be  a  man 
of  an  usually  happy  temperament,  and  of  the  most 
excellent  heart.  He  has  surrounded  himself  with  a 
number  of  nieces  (he  says  he  cannot  conceive  of  what 
use  boys  are  in  the  world),  whom  he  makes  happy,  and 
who  make  him  so  by  their  affection.  He  says  he  has  the 
peculiar  faculty  of  liking  everything  which  he  possesses, 


60  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  everything  which   seeks  his  protection.     He  is  an 
optimist,  but  not  a  conceited  one. 

He  was  my  neighbour  at  table,  and  I  have  to  thank 
him  for  not  becoming  sleepy ;  nor  should  I  have  supposed, 
as  people  told  me,  that  he  was  accustomed  to  be  sleepy  at 
great  dinners,  at  which  I  certainly  am  not  surprised.  But 
the  dinner  to-day  was  not  one  of  the  long  and  tedious 
description,  besides  which  he  evidently  endeavoured  to 
make  the  conversation  interesting  and  agreeable;  and  I, 
too,  did  my  best,  as  you  may  easily  suppose. 

In  the  afternoon  I  begged  him  to  allow  me  to  take  a 
profile  likeness  of  him ;  and,  in  order  that  he  might  not  go 
quite  asleep  during  the  operation,  I  begged  Angelica  H. 
to  sit  just  opposite  to  him,  and  talk  to  him ;  and 
the  plan  succeeded  excellently.  The  handsome  old 
gentleman  now  became  wide  awake,  loquacious  and 
lively,  and  there  was  such  vivacity  in  his  smile,  and  so 
much  fun  in  all  the  merry  dimples  of  his  countenance, 
that  it  is  my  own  fault  if  I  have  not  made  one  of  the 
best  and  most  characteristic  portraits  that  has  ever  been 
taken  of  this  universally  beloved  author.  I  am  glad  to 
have  it  to  show  to  his  friends  and  admirers  in  Sweden. 
Washington  Irving  invited  me  and  my  friends  to  his 
house  for  the  following  evening ;  but,  as  we  were  obliged 
to  return  home  that  day,  we  could  not  accept  his  invi 
tation,  but  engaged  to  pay  him  a  visit  in  the  morning. 

In  the  evening,  the  new  married  son  of  the  family 
returned  home  from  a  journey.  It  was  delightful  to  see 
the  handsome  young  man  sitting  between  his  father  and 
mother,  full  of  mirth  and  cordiality,  endeavouring  to 
divide  himself,  as  it  were,  equally  between  them,  replying 
to  their  questions,  and  acknowledging  their  tokens  of 
affection. 

Among  other  objects  of  interest  which  I  saw  here,  and 
which  I  had  also  seen  in  a  few  other  houses  on  the 
Hudson,  was  the  "  American  Birds  "  of  Audubon,  a  work 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  61 

of  real  genius  and  merit ;  for  one  does  not  merely  see  the 
various  kinds  of  American  birds,  but  also  their  charac 
teristics,  their  life,  and  history ;  how  they  build  and  feed 
themselves  ;  their  quarrels,  perils,  and  joys.  Some  of 
the  paintings  seem  to  me  to  show  a  little  eccentricity  in 
design ;  but  what  can  be  more  eccentric  than  nature 
herself  in  certain  hours  and  humours  ? 

Another  interesting  acquaintance  which  I  made  here 
was  with  Mr.  Stevens,  who  discovered  and  has  written 
upon  the  remains  of  Central  America.  What  a  rich 
field  is  there  presented  for  American  enterprise  and 
love  of  investigation.  And  they  ought  not  to  rest,  these 
Vikings  of  the  present  time,  before  all  this  is  their  own, 
and  they  have  there  free  space  to  work  in.  At  present 
there  are  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  advancing 
into  these  regions. 

On  the  following  morning,  we  had,  among  other  good 
things  for  breakfast,  (they  have  only  too  many  and  too 
highly- seasoned  dishes — cayenne  pepper  here  spoils 
both  meat  and  the  stomach) ;  we  had  also  honey  from 
Hymettus,  which  had  been  sent  by  a  friend  of  the 
family  who  had  lately  returned  from  his  travels  in 
Greece.  This  classical  honey  seemed  to  me  not  any 
better  than  the  virgin  honey  of  our  northern  bees. 
Flowers  and  bees  are  pretty  nearly  alike  all  over  the 
world,  and  are  fed  by  the  same  heavenly  honey- dew.  I 
thought  how  our  bees  at  Arsta  murmur  their  songs  in 
autumn  around  the  mignonette,  and  how  thou  thyself 
seest  them  now  as  thou  movest  like  a  little  queen  among 
thy  subjects  in  the  flower-garden,  among  beds  of  flowers 
which  thou  hast  had  planted.  Alas  !  but  it  is  true  that 
even  now  it  is  there  the  winter  trance,  and  the  bees  have 
forgotten  themselves  in  their  hives !  I  forget  here  how 
the  year  goes  on,  because  the  Indian  summer  is  a  time 
of  enchantment. 

I  went  in  the  forenoon  with  Mary  H.  to  "Washington 


62  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Irving's.     His  house  or  villa,  which  stands  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson,  resembles  a  peaceful  idyll ;  thick  masses 
of  ivy  clothe  one  portion  of  the  white  walls  and  garland 
the  eaves.     Fat  cows  fed  in  a  'meadow  just  before  the 
window.       Within,   the    room   seemed    full    of  summer 
warmth,  and  had  a  peaceful  and  cheerful  aspect.     One 
felt    that   a   cordial  spirit,    full    of   the   best  sentiment 
of  the  soul,  lived  and  worked  there.     Washington  Irving, 
although  possessed  of  the  politeness  of  a  man   of  the 
world,  and  with  great  natural  good-temper,  has,  never 
theless,  somewhat  of   that    nervous    shyness    which    so 
easily  attaches  itself  to  the  author,  and  in  particular  to 
him  who  is  possessed  of  delicacy  of  feeling  and  refine 
ment.      The  poetical  mind,  by  its  intercourse  with  the 
divine  spheres,  is  often  brought  somewhat  into  dishar 
mony   with  clumsy    earthly  realities.     To  these  belong 
especially  the  visits  of  strangers  and  the  forms  of  social 
intercourse,  as  we  make  them  in  good  society  on  earth, 
and  which  are  shells  that  must  be   cracked  if  one  would 
get  at  the  juice  of  either  kernel  or  fruit.     But  that  is  a 
difficulty  for  which  one  often  has  not  time.     A  portrait 
which  hangs  in  Washington  Irving's  drawing-room,  and 
which  was  painted  many  years  since,  represents  him  as 
a  remarkably  handsome  man,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes — 
a  head  which  might  have  belonged  to  a  Spaniard.     When 
young,  he    must    have    been   unusually  handsome.     He 
was  engaged  to  a  young  lady  of  rare  beauty  and  excel 
lence  ;    it   would   have    been    difficult   to   meet   with    a 
handsomer  pair.     But  she  died,  and  Washington  Irving 
never    again   sought   for    another  bride.     He  has    been 
wise  enough  to  content  himself   with  the  memory  of  a 
perfect  love,  and  to  live  for    literature,  friendship,  and 
nature.     He    is    a   wise  man,  but  without  wrinkles  and 
grey  hair.     Washington  Irving  was  at  this  time  occupied 
with  his  "  Life  of  Mahomet,"  which  will  shortly  be  sent 
to  press.     Two  ladies,  the  one  elderly,  the  other  younger, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  63 

neither  of  them  handsome,  but  with  countenances  full 
of  intelligence  and  feeling,  and  near  relations  of  his,  were 
at  his  house. 

Again  at  Mr.  H.'s,  I  received  a  number  of  visitors, 
all  handsome,  and  in  manners  kind  and  open-hearted. 
The  ladies  have  in  general  fine  figures,  but  they  are 
somewhat  too  spare.  After  that  we  had  music.  Mary 
H.  and  I  had  just  sate  down,  full  of  enthusiasm,  to 
an  overture  for  four  hands,  which  we  played  so  that 
they  who  heard  us  cried  bravo !  when  Mr.  Downing, 
with  his  melodious  voice,  and  decided  manner,  which 
makes  him  sometimes  a  sort  of  amiable  despot,  inter 
rupted  us  with  the  words,  "Now  it  is  time,"  namely, 
time  for  us  to  take  leave,  and  I  hastened  to  the  rail 
way,  which  as  with  an  iron  hand  had  stopped  the  music 
of  life.  But  it  accompanied  me  nevertheless  in  the 
impression  of  that  beautiful  family  life  which  I  have  again 
seen  here  ;  and  to  the  railroad  also  accompanied  me  that 
fine  old  gentleman,  Mr.  H.,  who,  during  the  whole  time, 
had  shown  me  the  greatest  kindness,  and  now,  at  parting 
begged  me  to  regard  him  as  a  father,  to  consider  his 
house  as  mine,  and  to  come  and  remain  there  whenever 
I  might  find  myself  not  so  well  off  in  any  of  the  United 
States.  And  I  know  that  this  offer  on  his  part  is  as 
equally  sincere  as  is  that  of  Mr.  Downing,  that  I  would 
regard  him  as  a  brother,  and  allow  him  to  serve  me 
whenever  I  might  find  occasion.  "  Bear  that  well  in 
mind  ! "  these  were  his  words  at  parting,  so  that  I  have 
now  both  father  and  brother  in  this  new  world — that 
will  do  to  begin  with ! 

I  sate  silent  in  the  railway  carriage  beside  my  silent 
friend,  but  the  music  of  whose  soul  I  am  always  con 
scious  of,  though  he  speak  not  a  word ;  so  that  after  all, 
there  was  no  interruption  to  the  music. 

We  sailed  up  the  Hudson  on  a  gloomy  but  beautiful 
evening.  The  air  was  quite  calm ;  now  and  then  a 


64  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

steam-boat  came  thundering  towards  us  with,  its  naming 
chimney,  but  the  river  was  unusually  quiet.  From  out 
the  dark  shadows  which  the  lofty  mountains  threw  upon 
the  shores,  gleamed  here  and  there  small  red  lights. 
"They  are  from  the  cottages  of  the  labourers  on  the 
railway,"  said  Mr.  Downing. 

"  Not  they,"  said  I ;  "  they  are  little  dwarfs  that  are 
peeping  out  of  the  rocks  and  that  unclose  the  openings 
to  the  mountain  halls  within ;  we  Scandinavians  know  all 
about  it ! " 

Mr.  Downing  laughed  and  allowed  my  explanation  to 
pass.  That  which  I  seem  to  want  here,  if  I  think  about 
a  want  at  all,  where  so  much  new  and  affluent  life  pre 
sents  itself,  is  that  life  of  sagas  and  traditions  which  we 
possess  everywhere  in  Sweden,  and  which  converts  it 
into  a  poetic  soil  full  of  symbolical  runes,  in  forest,  and 
mountain,  and  meadow,  by  the  streams  and  the  lakes, 
nay,  which  gives  life  to  every  stone,  significance  to  every 
mound.  In  Sweden  all  these  magnificent  hills  and 
mountains  by  the  Hudson  would  have  symbolical  names 
and  traditions.  Here  they  have  only  historical  traditions, 
mostly  connected  with  the  Indian  times  and  wars,  and 
the  names  are  rather  of  a  humorous  than  a  poetic 
tendency.  Thus  a  point  of  rock  somewhat  nose -like 
in  form,  which  runs  out  into  the  river,  is  called  St. 
Anthony's  Nose,  and  in  sailing  past  it  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  a  merry  little  poem  which  Mr.  Downing  read 
to  me,  in  which  St.  Anthony  is  represented  as  preaching 
to  the  fishes,  who  came  up  out  of  the  depths  quite 
astonished  and  delighted  to  hear  the  zealous  father  of 
the  Church  preaching  for  their  conversion.  The  end, 
however,  is, 

Much  delighted  were  they, 
But  preferred  the  old  way. 

And  thus  continued  in  their  natural  vices ;  and  St.  Anthony 
got — a  long  nose. 


-HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  65 

I  spent  yet  a  few  Indian  summer  days  with  my  friends 
by  the  Hudson — days  rich  in  many  things  ;  intercourse 
with  human  beings,  and  with  nature,  and  the  enjoyment 
of  beautiful  paradisaical  fruits :  the  new  moon  lit  her 
torch,  and  gave  a  yet  more  highly  romantic  character  to 
the  summer  veil  on  mountain  and  river — wonderfully 
beautiful  days  and  scenes  !  and  wonderfully  beautiful  was 
that  day  when,  during  a  storm,  I  travelled  with  my  friends 
down  the  Hudson  to  New  York.  Autumn  had  during 
its  advance  given  uniformity  of  colouring  to  the  woods.  It 
varied  now  between  copper  and  gold,  and  shone  like  an 
infinitely  rich  golden  embroidery  on  the  Indian  veil  of  mist 
which  rested  upon  the  heights  along  the  Hudson.  The 
wind  was  so  violent  that  at  times  the  vessel  was  driven 
on  the  banks,  and,  as  the  evening  advanced,  the  groups 
of  people  became  more  and  more  silent  in  the  crowded 
saloon.  Friend  drewT  near  to  friend,  husband  to  wife ; 
mothers  pressed  their  children  closer  to  their  breasts. 
My  eye  by  chance  fell  on  the  tall  figure  of  a  man  of 
energetic  appearance ;  a  little  woman  stood  close  beside 
him,  and  her  hand  was  pressed  to  his  heart.  A  speechless 
and  passionate  life  prevailed  there — prevailed  throughout 
the  atmosphere  that  stormy,  hot  evening.  This  and  some 
other  scenes  have  inscribed  themselves  ineffaceably  on 
my  soul ;  thou  shalt  read  them  there  some  time — there  or 
upon  paper,  for  whatever  I  experience  forcibly  and  deeply 
thou  knowest  that  I  must,  sooner  or  later,  give  back  either 
in  word  or  form. 

We  arrived  in  storm  and  darkness  at  New  York,  but 
nevertheless  reached  the  Astor  House  most  comfortably  ; 
and  very  soon  was  I  seated  familiarly  with  my  friends  in 
a  light  and  handsome  room,  drinking  tea  and  the  most 
delicious  milk  cooled  with  ice. 

"  In  order  that  I  may  now  show  you  proper  respect," 
said  Mr.  Downing,  "  as  we  are  about  to  part,  I  believe  that 
I  must  beg  from  you — an  autograph  !  " 

VOL.  I.  p 


66  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Thus  he  often  good-humouredly  teases  me,  knowing,  as 
he  does,  my  abhorrence  of  the  American  autograph  col 
lectors.  We  spent  the  evening  pleasantly  reading  by 
turns  from  our  favourite  poets,  Lowell,  Bryant,  and 
Emerson.  It  was  twelve  o'clock  when  we  separated,  and 
I  went  to  my  room.  But  I  remained  up  for  some  time, 
listening  through  the  open  window  to  the  softly  plashing 
rain,  drinking  in  the  balsamic  air,  and  allowing  the  breath 
of  a  new  life  to  penetrate  my  very  being. 

I  remained  yet  a  few  days  at  the  Astor  House  with  the 
Downings.  During  these  we  visited  the  Exhibition  of 
the  American  Art-Union  in  New  York.  Among  the 
paintings  of  native  artists,  I  saw  none  which  indicated 
peculiar  genius,  with  the  exception  of  a  large  historical 
painting  from  the  first  Mexican  War  between  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Indians.  A  few  pieces  of  sculpture 
gave  me  great  pleasure,  from  their  delicacy  of  expression 
and  mastership  in  execution.  Among  these  in  particular 
was  a  marble  bust  of  Proserpine,  and  a  fisher-boy  listening 
to  the  sound  of  the  sea  in  a  conch-shell,  both  the  works 
of  the  American  artist  Hiram  Powers.  One  could  almost 
wish  for  something  greater  and  more  national  in  subject; 
but  greater  beauty,  or  more  perfection  in  form,  would  be 
impossible.  Just  opposite  to  the  room  of  the  American 
Art-Union  they  have  placed,  with  good  judgment,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  the  so-called  Diisseldorf  Gallery,  a  col 
lection  of  old  paintings,  principally  of  the  German  school, 
which  has  been  opened  for  the  benefit  and  instruction  of 
American  artists  and  lovers  of  art.  But  the  want  of  time 
prevented  me  from  visiting  this  gallery,  at  the  present 
moment. 

Among  other  good  things  which  awaited  me  here  was 
an  offer  from  a  much-esteemed  publisher  of  New  York, 
Mr.  George  Putnam,  the  same  who  is  bringing  out  the 
works  of  Miss  Sedgwick,  to  publish  a  new  and  hand 
some  edition  of  my  writings,  which  have  hitherto  been 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  67 

printed  and  circulated  here  at  a  low  price,  and  to  allow 
me  the  same  pecuniary  advantage  as  a  native  author. 
Mr.  Downing  was  pleased  with  the  proposal,  because  he 
knows  Mr.  Putnam  to  be  a  thoroughly  honourable  and 
trustworthy  man. 

It  was  not  without  pain  that  I  parted  from  the 
Downings,  with  whom  I  had  spent  so  richly  intellectual 
and  delightful  a  time  (I  will  call  it  my  honeymoon 
in  the  New  World),  and  to  whom  I  am  really  cordially 
attached.  But  I  shall  see  them  again  ;  I  have  to  thank 
Mr.  Downing  for  many  things ;  for  the  wisdom  and  the 
tact,  as  well  as  the  brotherly  earnestness  with  which  he  has 
assisted  me  to  arrange  my  movements  here  in  the  new 
world,  and  as  regarded  invitations  and  other  marks  of 
friendliness  which  I  have  received.  At  parting  he  ad 
monished  me  with  his  beautiful  smile,  that  I  should  on  all 
occasions  make  use  of  a  little  inborn  tact — (N.B.  a  thing 
which  I  was  born  without) — so  as  to  know  what  I  ought 
to  do  and  to  permit.  I  think,  in  the  meanwhile  that  I 
made  good  use  of  his  advice,  by  immediately  afterwards 
declining  the  proposal  of  a  young  gentleman  to  climb  a 
lofty  church  tower  with  him.  Nothing  strikes  me  so 
much  as  the  youthfulness  of  this  people — I  might  almost 
say  childish  fervour  and  love  of  adventure.  They  hesitate 
at  nothing,  and  regard  nothing  as  impossible.  But  I 
know  myself  to  be  too  old  to  climb  up  church  towers  with 
young  gentlemen. 

When  the  Downings  left  me,  I  was  intrusted  to  the  kind 
care  of  Mr.  Putnam,  who  was  to  conduct  me  to  his  villa 
on  Staten  Island.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  we  drove 
through  the  throng  of  vehicles  of  all  kinds  which  filled  the 
streets  leading  to  the  harbour,  in  order  to  reach  the  steam 
boat  in  tune.  I  cannot  help  admiring  the  way  in  which  the 
drivers  here  manage  to  get  out  of  the  way,  and  twist  about 
and  shoot  between  and  disentangle  themselves  without 
any  misadventure  from  the  really  Gordian  knot  of  carts 

F   2 


63  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  carriages.  It  is  extraordinary,  but  it  is  not  excellent. 
I  sat  all  the  time  in  expectation  of  seeing  the  head  of  a 
horse  come  through  the  carriage-window,  or  of  the  carriage 
being  smashed  to  pieces.  In  the  meanwhile,  all  went 
well ;  we  reached  the  steamboat  in  time,  had  a  beautiful 
sail  upon  the  calm  waters  of  the  extensive  bay,  where 
large  and  small  steamboats  incessantly  are  passing  and 
winding  their  way  among  the  sailing  craft.  That  is  a 
scene  of  life ! 

At  Mr.  Putnam's  beautiful  house  on  one  of  the  heights 
of  Staten  Island,  I  saw  a  most  charming,  cheerful,  and 
agreeable  little  hostess  and  three  pretty  children,  and  in 
the  evening  a  whole  crowd  of  people  from  the  neighbour 
hood.  I  played  Swedish  polskas  and  ballads  for  them. 
The  best  thing  of  the  evening  was  a  comic  song,  sung  by 
an  excellent  elderly  gentleman. 

I  was  frozen  in  my  bedroom,  because  the  weather  is 
now  cold,  and  they  do  not  heat  the  bedrooms  in  this 
country.  It  is  here  as  in  England,  not  as  in  our  good 
Sweden ;  and  I  can  hardly  accustom  myself  to  these  cold 
bedchambers.  It  was  to  me  particularly  hard  to  get  up 
and  to  dress  myself  in  that  chilly  room,  with  my  fingers 
benumbed  with  cold.  But  I  forgot  both  the  numbness 
and  the  frost  when  I  went  down  to  breakfast,  and  saw 
the  bright  sun,  and  the  lovely  and  kind  hostess  in  that 
cheerful  room,  with  its  prospect  over  the  bay,  the  city, 
and  the  island.  In  the  forenoon  Mr.  Putnam  drove  me 
in  a  covered  carriage  to  see  the  island,  and  to  call  upon 
various  families.  The  rich  golden  woods  shone  in  their 
autumnal  pomp  of  varied  gold  or  brown — a  colouring  both 
warm  and  deep,  like  that  of  the  soul's  noblest  sufferings. 
I  indulged  the  emotion  which  it  excited,  and  I  drove 
through  the  woods  as  through  a  temple  filled  with  symbolic 
inscriptions,  and  that  which  it  presented  to  me  I  could 
read  and  decipher.  Thus  we  advanced  to  the  loftiest 
point  of  the  island,  whence  the  prospect  was  glorious, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  69 

from  its  vast  extent  over  land  and  water.  The  height 
was  lost ;  and  the  eye  hovered  and  circled,  like  the  eagle, 
in  the  air ;  but  with  no  rock,  no  mountain -crag,  on  which 
to  rest. 

I  saw  also  two  handsome  houses,  with  their  gardens, 
and  two  handsome,  kind  ladies.  One  of  them  was  really 
beautiful,  but  sorrowing:  death  had  lately  taken  from 
her  her  heart's  joy.  In  the  second  home  joy  and  happi 
ness  were  the  dwellers ;  there  was  no  mistake  about  that. 
I  was  obliged  to  promise  to  return  there  in  the  spring, 
and  there  to  witness  that  lovely  season.  But  I  wonder 
how  many  breaches  of  promise  I  shall  be  guilty  of  in  this 
country ! 

Mr.  Putnam  conveyed  me  back  to  New  York,  and  to 
the  kind  Mrs.  S.,  who  now  took  charge  of  me,  and 
with  her  I  visited  various  public  institutions,  among 
which  were  a  couple  of  large  schools,  where  I  saw  hun 
dreds  of  cheerful  children,  as  well  as  young  people.  I 
remarked  in  particular  the  bright,  animated,  beautiful 
eyes  of  the  children.  The  mode  of  instruction  seemed  to 
me  especially  calculated  to  keep  the  children  awake  and 
attentive.  One  building  contained  many,  or  all  grada 
tions  of  scholars.  The  lowest  rooms  are  appropriated  to 
the  smallest  children,  of  from  four  to  six  years  old  (each 
child  having  its  little  chair  and  detached  desk  standing 
before  it),  and  with  each  story  ascends  the  age  of  the 
pupils,  and  the  branches  of  knowledge  in  which  they  are 
instructed.  In  the  uppermost  story  they  have  advanced 
to  nineteen  or  twenty,  or  even  above  (as  well  in  the  girls' 
school  as  the  boys'),  take  diplomas,  and  go  thence  out 
into  the  world  to  live  and  teach  according  as  they  have 
learnt  here.  I  however  did  not  gain  much  information. 
I  wished  to  put  questions,  but  they  gave  themselves  little 
time  to  answer,  and  I  saw  that  my  visit  was  regarded  not 
as  for  instruction,  but  for  display.  In  the  institution  for 
the  deaf  and  dumb  a  young  teacher  indicated  by  signs  to 


70  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  pupils  a  long  history,  which  they  were  to  write 
upon  the  writing-tablets  which  hung  around  the  walls. 
They  did  it  excellently ;  and  I  could  not  but  marvel  at 
their  powers  of  memory  and  their  quickness  of  apprehen 
sion  and  expression. 

The  following  day  an  excursion  was  proposed  to  one  of 
the  islands  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city,  where  right- 
minded  men  have  established  a  large  institution  for  the 
reception  and  assistance  of  emigrants,  who,  in  sickness  or 
destitution,  arrive  in  New  York  from  Europe.  The 
island  is  called  "Ward's  Island,"  the  institution  "the 
Emigrant's  Asylum."  One  of  its  principal  founders  and 
supporters,  Mr.  Golden,  formerly  one  of  the  chief  lawyers 
of  New  York,  and  now  a  man  of  affluence,  occupying 
himself  solely  and  entirely  with  benevolent  institutions, 
conducted  Mrs.  S.  and  myself,  as  well  as  Bergfalk, 
whom  I  persuaded  to  accompany  us  thither,  in  his  carriage. 
Bergfalk  is  addicted  to  burying  himself  among  law-books 
and  acts  of  parliament,  to  living  with  the  dead,  and  I  must 
decoy  him  forth  to  breathe  the  fresh  air  with  the  living, 
and  to  live  among  them. 

The  day  was  glorious,  and  the  sail  in  the  boat  upon 
that  calm,  fragrant  water  (I  never  knew  water  give  forth  a 
fragrance  as  it  does  here)  in  that  warm  autumnal  sun,  was 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  imaginable.  On  Ward's  Island 
people  may  form  a  slight  idea  of  the  difficult  question 
which  the  Americans  have  to  meet  in  the  reception  of  the 
poor,  and  often  most  wretched  population  of  Europe,  and 
how  they  endeavour  to  meet  it.  Thousands  who  come 
clad  in  rags,  and  bowed  down  with  sickness,  are  brought 
hither,  succoured,  clothed,  fed,  and  then  sent  out  west 
ward  to  the  States  of  the  Mississippi,  in  case  they  have  no 
friends  or  relations  to  receive  them  at  a  less  remote  dis 
tance.  Separate  buildings  have  been  erected  for  the  sick 
of  typhus  fever ;  for  those  afflicted  with  diseases  of  the 
eye ;  for  sick  children ;  for  the  convalescent ;  for  lying-in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  71 

women.  Several  new  houses  were  in  progress  of  erection. 
Upon  those  verdant,  open  hills,  fanned  by  the  soft  sea- 
breezes,  the  sick  must,  if  possible,  regain  health,  and  the 
weak  become  strong.  We  visited  the  sick  ;  many  hundreds 
were  ill  of  typhus  fever.  We  visited  also  the  convalescent 
at  their  well- supplied  dinner-table. 

"But  if,"  said  I  to  Mr.  Golden,  "they  are  supplied 
every  day  with  such  soup  and  such  meat  as  this,  how 
can  you  manage  to  get  rid  of  them,  at  least  of  such  as  live 
only  to  eat  ?  " 

"  With  them  we  do  as  the  Quaker  did  with  his  adver 
sary,"  replied  Mr.  Golden,  smiling :  "  he  took  hold  of  him 
in  a  rough  manner.  '  How  now  ? '  said  the  enemy. 
'  You  are  really  not  going  to  strike  me  :  that  is  against 
your  religious  principles  ! '  '  No,'  said  the  Quaker,  '  I 
shall  not  strike  thee ;  but  I  shall  keep  hold  of  thee  in  a 
very  uncomfortable  manner.'  " 

Bergfalk  was  as  much  pleased  as  I  was,  in  seeing 
this  noble,  flourishing  institution,  which  the  people 
of  the  New  World  have  established  for  the  unfortunate 
children  of  the  Old ;  and  I  enjoyed  no  less  the  peculiar 
individuality  of  Mr.  Golden,  one  of  those  strong  charac 
ters  who  sustain  such  institutions  as  easily  as  a  mother  her 
child  upon  her  arm — a  man  strong  of  heart,  soul,  and  body. 
For  such  men  I  feel  an  admiration  which  is  akin  to  a 
child-like  love;  I  would  willingly  serve  them  as  a 
daughter.  They  have  the  magnetism  which  is  ascribed  to 
the  mountain  character. 

I  visited  also  with  Mrs.  S.,  the  home  established  for 
the  restoration  of  fallen  women  :  it  appeared  to  me  excel 
lent,  and  well  arranged.  Miss  Sedgwick  is  one  of  the 
managers,  and  does  a  very  great  deal  of  good.  She  reads 
to  the  women  stories  which  call  forth  their  better  nature, 
and  talks  to  them  cordially  and  wisely.  She  must  be  one 
of  the  most  active  supporters  of  this  reformatory  home. 

Mrs.  S.,  who  is  a  gentle,  motherly,  and  domestic  woman, 


72  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

as  well  as  a  good  citizen  even  beyond  the  sphere  of 
her  own  house— and  every  noble  woman  ought  to  be 
the  same— was  an  amiable  hostess  to  me ;  and  the  only 
thing  which  I  lacked  was,  that  I  was  unable  to  talk  more 
with  her.  But  these  schools,  asylums,  etc.,  they  are  in 
the  highest  degree  excellent  and  estimable  :  but  ah  !  how 
they  weary  me !  Mrs.  S,  conducted  me  to  the  house  of 
Miss  Lynch,  where  I  saw  a  whole  crowd  of  people,  and 
among  them  Bryant  the  poet,  who  has  a  beautiful  charac 
teristic  head,  with  silvery  locks. 

From  Miss  Lynch's  I  was  taken  by  a  kind  and  respect 
able  professor, — Hackitt,  I  believe,  he  was  called — to  the 
Elysian  Fields,  a  park-like  tract,  on  an  island  near  New 
York,  and- so  called  from  their  beautiful  idyllian  scenery; 
and  they  were  beautiful  as  an  idyll, — and  the  day,  and  the 
air — nay,  my  child,  we  have  nothing  like  them  in  the  Old 
World  !  at  least,  I  have  never  felt  any  such.  I  drink  in 
this  air  as  I  would  drink  nectar,  and  feel  it  almost  like  a 
pleasant  intoxication :  it  must  belong  to  this  time  of  the 
year,  and  to  the  magic  life  of  this  Indian  summer.  I 
wandered  in  the  Elysian  Fields  with  really  Elysian 
feelings,  saw  flocks  of  white  sails  coming  down  the 
Hudson,  like  winged  birds  of  peace,  and  I  allowed  my 
thoughts  to  float  up  it  to  the  friends  there,  the  new  and 
yet  so  dear;  far  from  me,  and  yet  so  near.  It  was  an 
enchanting  day  that  day  in  the  Elysian  Fields  of  the 
new  world.  My  professor  was  good  and  wise,  as  Mentor, 
in  "Les  Aventures  de  Telemaque,"  and  I  fancy  wiser, 
because  he  did  not  talk,  but  followed  me  with  fatherly 
kindness,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  my  pleasure.  In  the 
evening  he  conducted  me  across  East  River  to  Eose 
Cottage,  in  that  quiet  Brooklyn ;  and  there  I  shall  rest 
some  days  a  little  apart  from  the  world. 

Now  a  word  about  my  new  friends,  Marcus  and 
Bebecca.  They  are  a  very  peculiar  kind  of  people; 
they  have  a  something  about  them  remarkably  simple 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  73 

and  humane,  serene,  and  beautiful,  which  seems  to  me  of 
angelic  purity.  The  first  day  that  I  dined  at  their  house 
they  called  me  hy  my  name,  and  wished  that  I  should 
call  them  the  same  ;  and  now  I  live  with  them  familiarly 
as  with  a  brother  and  a  sister.  They  have  been,  and  are, 
indescribably  kind  to  me.  The  first  day  I  was  there  I 
was  somewhat  out  of  humour :  I  suffered  from  the  cold, 
especially  in  my  bed-room,  and  from  having  to  place 
myself  in  new  circumstances,  to  which  I  always  have  a 
repugnance.  But  they  had  a  stove  set  in  my  chamber, 
made  it  warm  and  comfortable,  and  I  soon  felt  myself  at 
home  with  them,  and  happy. 

Marcus  is  also  what  is  called  a  self-made  man.  But 
I  rather  suspect  that  our  Lord  himself  was  of  'his  kind, 
both  in  heart  and  head.  His  countenance  reminds  me  of 
Sterne's  expression  about  a  face — "  it  resembles  a 
blessing."  His  wife,  Rebecca,  comes  of  the  race  of 
Quakers,  and  has  something  about  her  of  that  quiet, 
inward  light,  and  that  reflectiveness,  which,  it  is  said, 
belongs  to  this  sect.  Besides  this,  she  has  much  talent 
and  wit,  and  it  is  especially  agreeable  to  hear  her  con 
verse.  Her  exterior  is  pleasing,  without  being  beautiful ; 
her  mouth  remarkably  fresh  and  cheerful,  and  her  figure 
classically  beautiful.  Both  husband  and  wife  are  true 
patriots  and  warm  friends  of  humanity,  loving  the  ideal 
in  life,  and  living  for  it.  They  are  people  of  affluence, 
and  are  able  to  do  much  good.  They  are  interested  in 
Socialism,  but  rather  as  amateurs  than  as  the  actually 
initiated.  Yet  Marcus  has  associated  several  of  his 
clerks  with  him  in  his  business.  But  he  is  one  of  that 
class  who  do  not  like  to  talk  about  what  they  do,  or  that 
others  should  busy  themselves  therewith.  His  wife  and 
friends  like  to  talk  about  him  ;  and  I  do  not  wonder  at  it. 
The  family  consists  of  three  children.  Eddy,  the  eldest 
boy,  twelve  years  old,  and  who  might  serve  as  a  model 
either  for  a  Cupid  or  for  one  of  Raphael's  angels,  has  a 


74  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

quiet,  thoughtful  demeanour,  with  great  refinement  of 
expression.  Little  Jenny,  the  only  daughter,  is  a  sweet 
little  girl;  and  then  comes  "the  haby,"  a  yellow-haired 
little  lad,  with  his  father's  brow  and  clear  blue  eyes :  a 
delicate,  but  delightful  child. 

With  Marcus  I  talk  about  what  is  going  on  both  now 
and  for  hereafter  in  the  country,  whether  afar  off  or 
near ;  with  Eebecca  about  the  history  of  the  inward  life ; 
and  thus  learn  much  which  both  affects  and  interests  me. 
Yes,  my  sister,  there  is  here  much  more  poetry,  much  more 
of  the  romance  of  life,  than  we  have  imagined.  Life  here  is 
new  youth.  The  climate,  also,  is  youthful,  but  not  always 
most  agreeably  so:  it  is  very  fickle.  The  first  days  I 
spent  here  at  Brooklyn  were  so  bitterly  cold  that  I  was 
frozen  both  body  and  mind.  Now,  and  for  the  last 
three  days,  it  has  been  so  warm,  that  I  have  lain  at  night 
with  my  window  open,  have  seen  the  stars  shining  through 
the  Venetian  shutters,  and  been  saluted  in  the  crimson 
dawn  by  the  mildest  zephyrs,  and  that  air,  and  that  odour, 
which  has  in  it  something  magical. 

November  7th. — I  have  not  been  able  to  write  for 
several  days.  I  am  sorry  for  it,  my  sweet  child,  but  I 
cannot  help  it.  I  will  some  time,  by  word  of  mouth,  fill 
up  the  gaps  which  remain  in  my  letters.  Many  things 
which  are  flattering,  and  many  things  which  are  difficult, 
occur  to  me  every  day,  which  are  not  worth  putting  down 
on  paper.  My  life  is  a  daily  warfare  against  kindness 
and  politeness,  and  curiosity,  during  which  I  often  am 
weary  and  worn  out ;  often,  also,  I  feel  the  wafting  influence  • 
of  an  extraordinary  youthfulness  and  enjoyment  gush 
through  my  soul.  I  felt  this  one  day  during  a  conver 
sation  with  the  noble,  enthusiastic  W.  H.  Channing, — a 
character  as  ardent  as  it  is  pure,  with  a  beaming  eye,  and 
a  countenance  as  pure  and  regular  as  I  could  imagine  that 
of  a  seraph  to  be.  His  figure,  which  is  noble  and  elegant, 
is  well  suited  for  that  of  a  public  speaker.  He  is  rather  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  75 

critical  admirer  tlian  an  enthusiast  as  regards  his  country. 
He  loves  enthusiastically  merely  the  ideal  and  the  perfect, 
and  knows  that  the  reality  falls  short  of  this. 

"  We  are  very  young,  very  young  ! "  said  he,  speaking 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  He  spoke  of  Waldo 
Emerson  with  admiration,  but  as  of  a  remotely  lofty 
spirit.  "  He  is  the  best  of  us  all ! "  said  he. 

"  Is  he  your  friend  ?  "  I  inquired. 

" No,"  replied  he ;  "I  cannot  flatter  myself  with  such 
a  relationship  between  us.  He  is  besides  too  much 

apart,  too .  But  you  ought  to  see  him  to  be  able  to 

understand  him." 

I  made  some  observation  against  Emerson's  turn  of 
mind.  Channing  did  not  make  much  reply  to  this,  but 
continued  mentally  to  look  up  to  Emerson  as  one  looks 
up  to  some  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  This  man  must 
have  the  power  of  fascination. 

On  Wednesday  I  go  with  Channing  and  Marcus  and 
Rebecca  to  the  North  American  Phalanstery  in  New  Jersey, 
take  a  near  view  of  that  wonderful  thing,  and  learn  more 
about  Christian  Socialism.  Bergfalk  will  go  with  us.  After 
that  I  return  here,  where  I  remain  to  the  end  of  the  week. 
The  following  week  I  shall  spend  with  Miss  Lynch  in 
New  York,  and  give  myself  up  to  a  life  of  society  there. 
After  that,  I  return  here,  and  accompany  my  friends  to 
Massachusetts,  in  order  to  celebrate  with  their  relations 
there  the  great  festival  of  Thanksgiving- day,  as  it  is 
called.  This  day,  which  is  fixed  this  year  for  the  26th  of 
November,  is  celebrated  with  particular  solemnity  in  the 
States  of  New  England,  where  it  first  originated.  After 
that,  I  shall  visit  the  Lowells,  the  Ernersons,  and  many 
others,  to  whom  I  am  invited,  and  so  on  to  Boston, 
where  I  think  of  spending  the  winter  months,  and  whence 
my  friends  will  return  home. 

In  the  evening,  at  sunset,  I  went  out  for  a  solitary 
walk  in  the  road,  half  town,  half  country.  I  walked 


76  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

beneath  the  green  trees;  and  by  my  side  went  the 
beautiful  Eddy,  quite  silent.  The  evening  sky  glowed, 
and  cast  its  warm  reflections  over  meadow  and  wooded 
height.  And  when  I  turned  my  eyes  from  these  to  the 
beautiful  boy  at  my  side,  I  met  his,  as  gentle  and  winning 
as  an  angel's  glance.  He  seemed  to  see  and  to  under 
stand  that  which  lived  within  my  soul.  Thus  walked  we 
onward.  But  it  began  to  grow  dusk ;  and  now  a  man  on 
horseback  rode  up  to  us  with  a  large  box  or  package  upon 
his  arm  :  it  was  that  good  Marcus,  on  his  Dolly ;  and  the 
package  which  he  carried  was  for  me,  and  was  full  of  the 
most  beautiful  flowers,  from  Mr.  Downing;  and  with 
them  a  few  words  for  me,  still  more  beautiful  than  the 
flowers.  Rebecca  and  I  arranged  the  flowers  in  a 
beautiful  alabaster  vase,  in  the  form  of  a  lily,  rising 
from  its  basin.  Marcus  and  Channing  assisted  us  with 
their  eyes. 

I  am  quite  well,  my  little  Agatha,  spite  of  vagaries  both 
of  body  and  soul,  and  am  infinitely  thankful  for  what  I 
here  learn  and  experience,  and  for  these  good,  cordial 
friends !  That  which  I  want  is  to  hear  good  news  both 
from  you  and  from  mamma.  I  hope  to  hear  by  this  day's 
post,  hope  and  long.  I  must  now  send  off  this  letter,  and 
set  to  work  on  many  others.  Kiss  mamma  for  me,  and 
greet  all  who  wish  for  greetings 

From  your 

FREDRIKA. 


LETTEE  V. 

ROSE  COTTAGE,  November  12&,  1849. 

AT  length,  at  length  I  have  received  letters  from  home, 
letters  from  mamma,  and  from  you,  my  sweet  Agatha  ! 
I  kissed  the  letter  for  joy  when  it  was  put  into  my  hand. 
But  ah  !  how  it  grieved  me  to  hear  that  you  are  again  ill, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  77 

and  that  without  either  rhyme  or  reason,  so  soon  after 
leaving  the  baths  of  Marstrand,  where  I  last  saw  you  so 
well.  I  can  now  merely  endeavour  to  console  myself 
with  the  belief,  that  by  this  indisposition  you  will  get 
rid  of  all  further  indisposition  for  the  year,  and  that  you 
therefore  will  be  in  all  the  better  health  for  the  winter. 
Will  you  not?  yes,  we  must  next  winter  remove  with 
you  to  some  warmer  climate,  to  your  beautiful  Italy,  to 
Rome,  or  to  Palermo,  and  next  summer  you  can  make 
good  use  of  sea-bathing  again  at  Marstrand.  And  I  will 
be  with  you,  my  dear  heart,  and  talk  and  write  beautiful 
things  for  you,  because  I  shall  be  rich  in  such  things, 
and  we  will  inhale  a  new  and  beautiful  life  together.  I 
have  not  yet  received  your  letter  to  London,  but  I  shall 
have  it  yet,  or  else  E.  L.  deserves  to — lose  his  head,  if  he 
have  not  already  lost  it,  for  he  took  it  upon  himself  to 
receive  this  letter  and  send  it  on  to  me.  But  yet  once 
more,  thanks  for  the  beautiful  letters. 

I  must  now  tell  you  about  our  expedition  to  the 
Phalanstery.  It  was  a  charming  morning  when  we  set 
out.  The  air  felt  quite  young — scarcely  five  years  old. 
It  was  not  a  boy,  it  was  a  girl,  full  of  animation,  but  shy ; 
a  veiled  beauty.  The  sun  was  concealed  by  light  clouds, 
the  winds  were  still.  As  Marcus,  Rebecca,  and  I,  were 
standing  for  a  short  time  by  the  ferry  at  Brooklyn,  waiting 
for  the  boat  to  take  us  over  to  New  York,  a  Quakeress  was 
also  standing  there,  with  a  Roman  nose,  and  a  frank 
but  grave  countenance.  I  looked  at  her,  and  she  looked 
at  me.  All  at  once  her  countenance  brightened  as  if  by 
a  sunbeam.  She  came  up  to  me,  "  Thou  art  Miss 

Bremer,"  said  she.  "Yes,"  said  I,  "  and  thou  art " 

She  mentioned  her  name,  and  we  shook  hands  cordially. 
The  inward  light  had  illumined  her  in  more  than  one 
way,  and  on  such  a  morning  I  felt  myself  on  the  sweetly 
familiar  terms  of  "  thee  and  thou  "  with  the  whole  world. 

We  crossed  the  river,  Marcus,  Rebecca,  and  I.     The 


78  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

morning  wind  awoke,  and  the  clouds  began  to  move; 
sailing  craft  and  steam-boats  passed  one  another  in  the 
bay,  and  young  lads  sate  in  their  boats  fishing  up  large 
casks  and  planks  which  the  current  bore  with  it  out  to 
sea.  The  shores  shone  out  green  and  gold.  An  hour 
afterwards  and  we  were  on  board  the  steam-boat  which 
would  convey  us  to  New  Jersey.  Bergfalk  had  joined 
us  full  of  life  and  good-humour.  Channing  had  come 
with  his  pure  glance,  clear  as  the  light  of  a  diamond, 
and  with  him  Mr.  H.,  a  lover  of  flowers  and  of  Channing. 
We  steamed  along  amid  sunshine  and  conversation  on 
subjects  of  interest,  the  dialogue  being  principally  between 
Channing  and  myself,  the  others  putting  in  now  and 
then  a  word,  every  one  rather  opposed  to  me,  and  I  a 
little  opposed  to  all,  with  the  exception  of  Marcus,  whose 
reason  accorded  with  my  views.  By  this  time  the  clouds 
began  to  gather  over  us,  and  it  soon  began  to  rain. 

We  arrived  in  New  Jersey  amid  rain,  and  in  rain  we 
reached  the  little  town  of  Ked  Bank.  Here  a  waggon 
from  the  Phalanstery  met  us,  which  had  been  sent  for 
the  guests,  as  well  as  for  potatoes,  and  in  it  we  stowed 
ourselves,  beneath  a  tilted  cover  of  yellow  oil-cloth, 
which  sheltered  us  from  the  rain.  A  handsome  young 
man,  one  of  the  people  of  the  Phalanstery,  drove  the 
pair  of  fat  horses  which  drew  us,  and  after  we  had 
ploughed  the  sand  for  a  couple  of  hours,  we  arrived  at 
the  Phalanstery,  a  couple  of  large  houses,  with  several 
lesser  ones  standing  around  them,  without  any  thing 
remarkable  in  their  style  of  architecture.  The  landscape 
around  had  a  pleasant,  park-like  appearance  ;  the  fields 
and  the  trees  were  yet  quite  green.  New  Jersey  is  cele 
brated  for  its  mild  climate  and  its  fine  fruits.  We  were 
conducted  into  a  hall  and  regaled  with  a  dinner  which 
could  not  have  been  better  if  it  had  been  in  Arcadia; 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  produced  better 
milk,  bread,  or  cheese.  They  had  also  meat  here. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  79 

I  here  met  with  the  family  which  had  first  invited  me 
to  the  Phalanstery,  and  found  them  to  be  the  sister  and 
brother-in-law  of  Marcus,  two  earnest,  spiritual-minded 
people,  who  have  a  profound  faith  in  and  love  for  the 
principle  of  association.  He  is  the  president  of  the 
institution  at  this  place.  Mr.  A.,  who  has  not  alone 
enthusiasm,  but  who  is  evidently  a  clever  and  straight 
forward  man  of  business,  gifted  with  the  power  of 
organisation,  was  originally  a  minister,  and  devoted 
himself  for  a  long  time  most  beneficially  as  a  missionary 
of  the  poor,  "  a  minister  at  large,"  as  they  are  called  in  this 
country ;  after  which  he  lived  for  ten  years  as  a  farmer 
in  one  of  the  western  states  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  cultivating  maize  and  fruit,  and  finding  him 
self  well  off  amid  the  affluent  solitudes  of  nature.  As 
his  children,  however,  grew  up,  it  appeared  to  him  too 
solitary  for  them ;  the  house  became  too  small,  and  for 
the  sake  of  their  education  and  their  moral  and  intel 
lectual  development,  he  removed  again,  and  came  nearer 
to  the  great  world  of  man.  But  in  so  doing  he  resolved 
to  unite  himself  with  that  portion  of  it  which,  as  it 
appeared  to  him,  came  the  nearest  to  his  idea  of  a 
Christian  community.  He  and  his  wife  and  children, 
therefore,  joined  this  association,  which  was  established 
eight  years  before  by  a  few  married  couples,  all  enthu 
siasts  for  this  idea,  and  which  now  calls  itself  "the 
North  American  Phalanstery."  Each  member  advanced 
the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars ;  land  was  purchased, 
and  they  began  to  labour  together,  according  to  laws 
which  the  society  had  laid  down  beforehand.  Great 
difficulties  met  them  in  the  commencement,  in  particular 
from  their  want  of  means  to  build,  for  the  purchase  of 
implements,  and  so  on.  It  was  beautiful  and  affecting  to 
hear  what  fatigue  and  labour  the  women  subjected  them 
selves  to — women  who  had  been  but  little  accustomed  to 
anything  of  this  kind ;  how  steadfastly  and  with  what  noble 


80  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

courage  they  endured  it ;  and  how  the  men,  in  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood,  did  their  part  in  any  kind  of  work  as 
well  as  the  women,  merely  looking  at  the  honour 
and  the  necessity  of  the  work,  and  never  asking 
whether  it  was  the  fit  employment  for  man  or  for  woman. 
They  had  suffered  much  from  calumny,  but  through 
it  all  they  had  become  a  stronger  and  more  numerous 
body. 

They  had  now  overcome  the  worst,  and  the  institution 
was  evidently  improving.  It  was  in  contemplation  at 
this  time  to  build  a  new  house,  in  particular  a  large 
eating-hall  and  place  for  social  meeting,  together  with  a 
cooking  and  wash-house,  provided  with  such  machinery 
as  should  dispense  with  the  most  onerous  hand-labour. 
The  number  of  members  was  at  this  time  somewhat 
above  seventy.  The  establishment  has  its  own  peculiar 
income  from  mills  and  from  tillage  as  well  as  from  its 
orchards.  They  cultivate  peaches,  melons,  and  tomatoes. 
In  the  mills  they  prepare  hominy  (ground  maize),  which 
is  boiled  into  a  sort  of  pudding  and  eaten  universally, 
especially  for  breakfast. 

One  evening  a  great  portion  of  the  members  of  the 
Phalanstery  assembled  in  one  of  the  sitting-rooms.  Various 
individuals  were  introduced  to  me,  and  I  saw  a  great 
number  of  very  handsome  young  people  ;  in  particular  I 
remarked  the  niece  and  nephew  of  Marcus  S.,  Abbie 
and  her  brother,  as  being  beautiful  according  to  one's 
ideal  standard.  Many  among  the  men  wore  coarse 
clothes  ;  but  all  were  neat,  and  had  a  something  of  great 
earnestness  and  kindness  in  their  whole  demeanour. 

Needlework  was  brought  in  and  laid  upon  a  table. 
This  was  the  making  of  small  linen  bags  for  containing 
hominy,  and  which,  when  filled  and  stamped  with  the 
name  of  the  Phalanstery,  are  sent  for  sale  to  New  York. 
I  sewed  one  bag ;  Channing  also  made  another  and 
maintained  that  he  sewed  quicker  than  I  did ;  my  opinion, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  81 

however,  is  that  my  sewing  was  the  best.  After  this  I 
played  Swedish  dances  and  ballads  for  the  young  people, 
which  excited  them  in  a  remarkable  manner,  especially 
the  Necks  polska.  I  related  also  to  them  the  legend  of 
the  Neck  and  the  Priest,  and  the  Wand  which  became 
verdant,  a  legend  which  shows  that  even  the  spirits  of 
nature  might  be  saved.  This  struck  them  very  much, 
and  the  tears  came  into  many  eyes. 

I  had  a  little  room  to  myself  for  the  night,  which  some 
of  the  young  girls  had  vacated  for  me.  It  was  as  small  as  a 
prison  cell ;  had  four  bare  white  walls,  but  was  neat  and 
clean,  and  had  a  large  window  with  a  fine  and  beautiful 
prospect ;  and  I  was  exceedingly  comfortable  in  that  little 
chamber,  and  slept  well  upon  a  good  sofa  bed  to  the 
sound  of  the  plashing  rain,  and  in  the  mild  atmosphere 
which  entered  through  the  half-opened  window.  The 
bed-making  sisters,  two  handsome,  kind  young  girls,  were 
the  last  which  I  saw  in  my  room.  I  was  awoke  in  the 
morning  by  the  sound  of  labour  throughout  the  house  ; 
people  were  going  and  coming,  all  full  of  business;  it 
sounded  earnest  and  industrious.  I  thought  the  "  Essenes 
and  the  Pythagoreans  began  the  day  with  a  song,  a 
consecration  of  the  day's  work  to  the  service  of  the  holy 
powers,"  and  I  sighed  to  think  that  the  associations  of 
the  West  were  so  far  behind  those  of  the  East.  I  dressed 
myself  and  went  down. 

As  there  is  always  an  impulse  within  me  to  enter  body 
and  soul  into  the  life  which  at  that  time  exists  around 
me,  so  would  I  now  live  here  as  a  true  and  earnest 
member  of  the  Phalanstery,  and  therefore  I  entered  as  a 
worker  into  one  of  the  bands  of  workers.  I  selected  that 
in  which  cooking  was  going  forward,  because  I  consider 
that  my  genius  has  a  bent  in  that  direction.  I  was  soon 
standing,  therefore,  by  the  fire,  with  the  excellent 
Mrs.  A.,  who  had  the  management  of  this  department; 
and  I  baked  a  whole  pile  of  buckwheat  cakes,  just  as 


82  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

we  bake  cakes  in  Sweden,  but  upon  a  large  iron  plate, 
until  breakfast,  and  had  then  the  pleasure  of  serving 
Marcus  and  Channing  with  some  of  them  quite  hot  for 
breakfast.  I  myself  thought  that  I  had  been  remarkably 
fortunate  with  my  cakes.  In  my  fervour  of  association  I 
laboured  also  with  hands  and  arms  up  to  my  very  elbows 
in  a  great  kneading  trough,  but  had  very  nearly  stuck 
fast  in  the  dough.  It  was  quite  too  heavy  for  me,  though 
I  would  not  confess  it ;  but  they  were  kind  enough  to 
release  me  from  the  operation  in  the  politest  manner  and 
place  it  in  abler  hands. 

The  rain  had  ceased,  and  the  sun  began  to  find  his  way 
through  the  clouds.  I  now  therefore  went  out  to  look 
about  me,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  A.,  and  the  lady  of 
the  President,  the  latter  of  whom  wore  a  short  dress  and 
pantaloons,  which  were  very  becoming  to  her  fine  and 
picturesque  figure,  and  besides  which,  were  well  calculated 
for  walking  through  the  wet  fields  and  woods.  We  first 
paid  a  visit  to  the  mills.  Two  handsome  young  girls,  also 
in  short  dresses  or  blouses,  girt  with  leathern  bands,  and 
with  jaunty  little  caps  on  their  heads,  which  were  remark 
ably  becoming,  went,  or  rather  danced  along  the  footpath 
before  us,  over  hill  and  dale,  as  light  and  merrily  as  birds. 
They  were  going  to  assist  at  the  hominy  mills.  I  went 
through  the  mills,  where  everything  seemed  excellent  and 
well  arranged,  and  where  the  little  millers  were  already 
at  their  work. 

Thence  we  went  across  the  meadows  to  the  potato - 
fields,  where  I  shook  hands  with  the  chief,  who,  in  his 
shirt -sleeves,  was  digging  up  potatoes  among  his  senators. 
Both  the  chief  and  the  other  members  looked  clever  and 
excellent  people ;  and  the  potato  crop  promised  this  year 
to  be  remarkably  rich.  The  land  in  New  Jersey  appears 
to  be  very  good  and  fruitful.  The  sun  shone  pleasantly 
over  the  potato  field,  the  chief,  and  his  labourers,  among 
whom  were  many  men  of  education  and  intelligence. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  83 

In  my  conversation  with  the  two  sensible  women,  my 
conductresses,  I  learned  various  particulars  regarding  the 
laws  and  life  of  the  Phalanstery  ;  among  others,  that 
they  are  wise  enough  not  to  allow  the  public  to  absorb 
private  property.  Each  individual  may  invest  as  much  as 
he  likes  in  the  association,  and  retain  as  much  of  his  own 
property  as  he  wishes.  For  that  which  he  so  invests 
he  receives  interest.  The  time  required  for  labour  is  ten 
hours  a  day.  All  who  work  over  hours  are  paid  for  such 
over  work.  The  women  participate  in  all  rights  equally 
with  the  men  :  vote,  and  share  in  the  administration  of 
law  and  justice.  "  But,"  said  Mrs.  A.,  "  we  have  had 
so  much  to  do  with  our  domestic  affairs,  that  we  have 
hitherto  troubled  ourselves  very  little  about  these  things." 

Any  one  who  makes  known  his  desire  to  become  a 
member  may  be  received  as  such  after  a  probation  of  one 
year  in  the  Phalanstery,  during  which  time  he  must  have 
shown  himself  to  be  unwearied  in  labour,  and  stedfast  in 
brotherly  love  and  good  will.  As  regards  his  religion, 
rank,  or  his  former  mode  of  life,  no  questions  are  asked. 
The  association  makes  a  new  experiment  in  social  and 
economic  life  :  it  regards  the  active  principle  of  love  as 
the  ruling  power  of  life,  and  wishes  to  place  everything 
within  the  sphere  of  its  influence ;  it  will,  so  to  say, 
begin  life  anew,  and  makes  experimental  researches  into 
its  laws ;  like  those  plants  called  exogens,  it  grows  from 
the  exterior  inwards,  but  has,  it  appears  to  me,  its  principle 
much  less  determinate  than  the  vegetable. 

Being  asked  in  the  evening  my  opinion  of  this  com 
munity,  I  candidly  confessed  in  what  it  appeared  to  be 
deficient ;  in  particular  as  regarded  a  profession  of  religion 
and  public  divine  service ;  its  being  based  merely  upon  a 
moral  principle,  the  validity  of  which  might  be  easily 
called  in  question,  as  they  did  not  recognise  a  connection 
with  a  life  existing  eternally  beyond  earth  and  time,  with  any 
eternally  binding  law,  nor  even  with  a  divine  Lawgiver. 

G   2 


84  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  The  serpent  may  one  day  enter  your  paradise,  and 
then — how  can  you  expel  it  ?  " 

I  told  them  also  how  I  had  felt  that  morning;  how 
empty  and  dead  a  life  of  lahour  seemed  to  me  which  was 
not  allied  to  the  service  of  the  Supreme,  which  did  not 
admit  of  space  for  the  holy  and  the  beautiful. 

An  elderly  gentleman,  who  sat  near  me,  with  a  very 
good  and  honest  countenance,  but  who  had  a  horrible 
trick  of  incessant  spitting,  was  the  person  who  in  par 
ticular  replied  to  my  objections.  But  his  reply  and  that 
of  the  others  merely  served  to  strengthen  my  impression 
of  the  cloudy  state  in  which  the  intellect  here  is  at 
present.  I  therefore  remained  silent  after  I  had  given 
my  opinion.  But  I  and  many  others  hoped  that  Channing 
would  have  spoken.  He,  however,  did  not ;  but  sat 
listening  with  his  beautiful  speaking  head,  and  his 
beaming  glance  turned  towards  the  disputants.  After 
that  Bergfalk  and  I  began  to  talk  with  each  other  in 
Swedish,  in  order  that  they  might  hear  that  extraordinary 
foreign  tongue.  We  placed  ourselves  opposite  each  other, 
in  the  midst  of  the  company,  and  conversed  in  Swedish  for 
the  edification  of  our  very  attentive  audience. 

I  was  again  requested  to  play  for  the  young  people. 
The  following  day  at  noon  we  were  to  leave.  In  the 
morning,  about  half  a  dozen  beautiful  young  girls  seized 
upon  me,  and  conducted  me  from  one  house  to  another, 
and  I  played  to  all  the  mothers  and  grandmothers  in  the 
Phalanstery,  and  upon  every  piano  which  was  to  be  found 
there,  six  or  seven  in  number  ;  and  the  young  creatures 
were  so  charmed  and  so  excited  with  the  marches  and 
the  polskas  and  the  songs  which  I  played  to  them,  that 
they  both  laughed  and  cried.  N.B.  Music  as  yet  in  the 
Phalanstery  is  merely  a  babe  in  swaddling  clothes ;  they 
regard  at  present  their  work  as  their  play.  It  is  true  never 
theless  that  the  children  there  are  unusually  cheerful; 
the  very  little  ones  were  in  particular  most  charming. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  85 

Magnificent  lads  were  the  lads  of  the  association,  and  not 
in  the  least  bashful  before  the  stranger.  One  saw  in  them 
the  dawning  spirit  of  the  co-operatist. 

I  became,  however,  horribly  weary  of  my  part  as 
associate  sister,  and  was  glad  to  sit  down  and  play  for  the 
Phalanstery,  and  to  kiss  all  the  young  girls  (and  glorious 
warm-hearted  girls  they  are),  and  shake  hands  with  the 
associate  brothers  and  sisters,  and  leaving  the  Phalanstery 
with  my  friends,  seat  myself  again  quietly  in  the  steam 
boat  on  my  way  back  to  New  York. 

Much  delighted  were  they, 
But  preferred  the  old  way. 

I  was  like  the  fishes  in  St.  Anthony's  sermon,  not  a 
morsel  more  converted  than  they  were.  Because,  although 
I  should  lose  all  regard  for  myself  if  I  did  not  believe 
that  I  was  inwardly  associated  with  the  interests  of 
humanity  in  every  various  sentiment  of  my  being,  in  my 
prayers  as  well  as  in  my  work — did  not  feel  myself  to  be  a 
worker  in  the  great  Phalanstery  of  the  human  race — yet  is 
my  nature  altogether  opposed  to  association  when  brought 
into  too  near  a  proximity,  or  in  outward  life.  And  I 
would  rather  live  in  a  cottage  on  the  bleakest  granite 
mountain  of  Sweden,  alone  by  myself,  and  live  on  bread 
and  water  and  potatoes  (which  I  would  boil  for  myself), 
than  in  a  Phalanstery  on  the  most  fertile  soil,  in  the 
midst  of  associated  brethren  and  sisters,  even  if  they 
were  as  agreeable  as  are  they  at  this  place.  But  that 
belongs  to  my  individual  character ;  I  cannot  live  perfectly 
excepting  hi  solitude.  For  the  greater  number  of  people, 
however,  even  the  outward  life  of  association  is  the 
happiest  and  the  best.  Association  in  that  form  which  it 
assumes,  for  example,  in  this  Phalanstery,  is  evidently 
doing  a  justice  to  many  individuals  which  would  never  be 
done  to  them  in  the  great  social  system  as  it  is  usually 
constructed.  Thus,  for  example,  there  was  here  a  man, 


86  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOELD. 

who  was  possessed  of  considerable  knowledge  and  a  cul 
tivated  mind,  but  in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  his 
eyes,  was  incapacitated  for  maintaining  himself  by  any 
means  which  required  much  eyesight.  This  man  was 
poor,  and  without  near  connections.  In  the  ordinary 
state  of  society  he  must  either  have  taken  refuge  in  some 
asylum  for  indigence,  where  his  life,  physical  and  spiritual, 
would  have  been  scantily  supplied,  or  he  must  have  sunk 
into  the  coarse  working  class,  who  merely  labour  for  the 
life  of  the  body.  As  a  member  of  the  Phalanstery,  this 
man  gave  his  bodily  labour  ten  hours  in  the  day,  and  on 
the  other  hand  was  entitled  to  all  the  nobler  enjoyments 
of  cultivated  life,  intercourse  with  superior  and  educated 
people,  good  meals  partaken  in  cheerful  company,  always 
a  kind  welcome,  and  every  evening,  when  the  work  of  the 
day  was  over,  if  he  were  so  inclined,  rest  and  refreshment 
in  society,  in  a  large  light  room,  with  agreeable  women, 
handsome  children,  music,  books,  opportunities  for  con 
versation  on  the  highest  interests  of  life  in  connection 
with  the  interests  of  the  association.  After  all,  I  believe 
that  I  begin  to  love  this  association,  whilst  I  write  about 
it,  and  whilst  I  think  upon  the  noble  justice  which  it  does 
to  this  individual  and  to  many  others  like  him.  Is  there 
not  something  great  and  beautiful,  when  a  community 
thus  receives  into  its  bosom  even  the  meanest  human 
being,  who  will  not  be  useless,  and  which  allows  him  to 
become  participant  of  its  enlightened  life,  so  long  as  he 
takes  part  in  its  life  of  labour  ?  And  that  it  is  which 
Christian  Socialism  aims  at.  And  well  may  it,  in  the 
consciousness  thereof,  courageously  bear  the  derision  and 
contempt  which  the  world  at  large  casts  upon  it,  and  with 
its  countenance  turned  towards  the  eternal  light  say  con 
solingly,  as  Mr.  A.  (the  preacher  and  the  farmer)  said 
to  me  at  our  departure,  "  We  know  that  we  have  not 
trodden  any  man  under  foot." 

But  my  doubt  as  to  the  want  of  solid  construction  in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  87 

this  particular  case  returned  nevertheless;  and  on  the 
steamboat,  in  quiet  conversation  with  my  friends,  we 
examined  the  question  still  further.  I  repeated  my 
objections  against  this  building  without  foundation. 
Channing  was  certain  about  it,  in  the  belief  that  the  more 
profound  laws  of  reason  and  of  life  necessarily  become 
developed  from  human  nature  when  it  is  left  to  test  and 
to  experimentise  itself.  "  That  which  I  require  in  the 
Phalanstery,"  said  Channing,  "  will  yet  come,  and  come 
in  a  new  way,  and  with  deeper  conviction."  I  believe,  as 
Channing  does,  that  it  must  come,  because  human  nature 
possesses  these  seeds  of  eternal  ideas  within  its  own 
breast,  and  has  developed  them  in  all  ages.  All  historical 
religions  and  modes  of  philosophy,  religious  associations, 
and  so  on,  bear  witness  to  this  truth.  But  I  continue  to 
demand  from  the  Socialists,  why  not  take  up  that  work 
which  is  already  begun  and  continue  it  ?  Why  not  accept 
the  consciousness  which  the  human  race  universally 
possesses  of  itself,  its  life,  and  its  aims  ?  Why 
attempt  to  undertake  a  work  which  has  already  been 
given  up  ?  That  is  to  waste  time  and  strength  which 
might  be  turned  to  better  account.  But  perhaps  there 
may  be  something  new  here  which  I  have  not  clearly 
seen — the  principle  of  a  new  beginning.  It  is  evident  to 
me,  however,  in  the  meantime,  that  neither  do  the  others 
see  it  very  clearly.  They  go  en  tdtonnemcnt ;  but  they 
are  perhaps  guided  by  an  instinct  which  is  clairvoyant. 

I  shall  return  to  this  institution  and  to  these  subjects. 
This  Phalanstery  is  for  the  present  the  only  one  on  this 
plan  existing  in  the  United  States.  Many  others  have 
been  founded,  but  all  have  failed  and  gone  to  pieces  from 
the  difficulty  of  winning  the  interest  of  the  members  and 
their  stedfast  co-operation  for  the  principle  of  the  insti 
tution  and  for  the  common  weal.  The  enthusiasts  have 
done  the  work,  the  sluggish -spirited  have  lived  upon 
them ;  the  former  have  done  everything,  the  latter 


88  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

nothing.  Founder's  theory  about  the  attraction  of  labour 
has  been  effectually  refuted  by  many  sluggish  natures. 
The  advocates  of  the  theory  maintain,  indeed,  that  it  has 
never  yet  been  fully  proved,  because  mankind  has  not 
been  educated  to  consider  labour  attractive.  But  we 
shall  see. 

At  home  at  Eose  Cottage,  in  the  quiet,  affectionate 
family  circle  there,  how  pleasant  was  rest  after  the 
Phalanstery  expedition  !  There  also  my  most  beautiful 
hours  are  passed  in  the  society  of  the  husband  and  wife, 
in  conversation  with  them,  and  in  reading  together  the 
poets  of  America.  Here  also  is  Lowell  a  favourite,  and 
it  is  a  pleasure  to  hear  Eebecca  read  him  and  other 
poets,  because  she  reads  remarkably  well.  Marcus 
leaves  the  house  generally  immediately  after  breakfast, 
but  during  that  meal  he  often  finds  time  to  read  us  some 
thing  important  either  in  the  newspaper  or  from  books 
for  the  most  part  having  reference  to  social  questions  and 
improvement.  He  is  now  busied  with  a  scheme  for  the 
erection  of  baths  and  washhouses  on  a  large  scale,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  New  York,  and  with  collecting 
subscriptions  for  that  purpose. 

I  must  now  tell  you  something  about  W.  H.  Charming, 
because  he  is _  one  of  the  most  intimate  friends  of  the 
family,  and  is  connected  with  them  and  with  the  spiritual 
life  of  the  country  in  a  remarkable  manner.  He  was 
some  years  ago  the  minister  of  a  Unitarian  congregation 
in  Cincinnati,  but  the  room,  that  is  to  say,  Unitarianism, 
became  too  small  for  him ;  he  could  not  breathe  freely  forth 
heart  and  soul  in  it,  and  "  he  therefore  resigned  an  office 
which  he  could  no  longer  hold  with  an  easy  conscience," 
although  his  congregation,  which  was  very  much  attached 
to  him,  did  all  they  could  to  induce  him  to  remain,  and 
although  he  knew  not  how  henceforth  he  was  to  maintain 
himself,  his  wife,  and  his  two  children.  But  he  thought 
like  the  old  patriarch,  strong  in  faith,  when  he  obeyed 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  89 

the  summons  of  the  Supreme,  "  the  Lord  indeed 
regards  sacrifice  !  "  And  the  Lord  did  so.  Some  of  his 
friends  took  the  suhject  under  consideration,  and  wrote 
a  letter  to  Charming,  the  contents  of  which  were,  "  Come 
to  us  ;  become  our  friend  and  spiritual  shepherd ;  but  in 
perfect  freedom ;  follow  your  own  inspiration :  preach, 
talk  to  us  how  and  when  it  appears  best  to  you.  We 
undertake  to  provide  for  your  pecuniary  wants.  Live 
free  from  anxiety,  and  happy  how  and  where  you  will ; 
teach  us  how  we  should  live  and  work ;  our  homes  and 
our  hearts  are  open  to  you." 

Channing's  answer  to  this  letter  proved  the  nobility 
and  the  earnestness  of  his  heart.  He  came.  And  since 
that  time  he  has  lived  conformably  with  the  invitation 
which  enabled  him  to  visit  prisons,  to  become  one  in 
religious  and  social  festivals  and  societies,  or  to  lecture 
on  social  questions  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  other 
towns ;  following  the  dictates  of  his  inspiration,  and 
by  his  genial  and  beautifully  gifted  character  awakening 
the  soul  and  warming  the  heart ;  producing  "  revivals  " 
of  a  higher  life,  scattering  the  seed  of  eternal  life,  and 
fanning  up  the  feeble  flames  of  the  true  life  wherever 
he  came. 

He  visits  his  friends  whenever  he  likes,  often  unex 
pectedly,  but  he  is  always  wished  for  and  warmly 
welcomed  ;  always  finds  in  every  house  a  room  prepared 
for  W.  H.  Channing.  The  good  Marcus  S.  has  such 
respect  for  intellectual  and  spiritual  gifts,  and  in  par 
ticular  such  devotion  to  Channing,  that  he  has  a  peculiar 
pleasure  in  serving  him.  He  and  Kebecca,  and  some 
other  friends,  entertain  the  thought  of  building  him  a 
house  near  the  Phalanstery.  The  thought  of  this  and  of 
Channing's  satisfaction,  made  Kebecca  quite  happy. 
All,  Agatha !  to  live  among  such  people  ! — It  is  worth 
the  fatigue  of  crossing  the  world's  sea  merely  to  become 
acquainted  with  them, 


90  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Next  Sunday  Charming  will  deliver  a  lecture  in  New 
York,  and  I,  as  well  as  my  friends,  shall  go  to  hear 
him.  I  am  well  off  here  in  Brooklyn,  in  this  home, 
with  this  married  pair  and  their  beautiful  children ! 
Here  too  it  is  quiet  and  beautiful.  I  can  wander  about 
alone  and  in  silence,  take  long  walks  by  myself  in  the 
neighbourhood.  I  observe  among  the  trees  here,  splendid 
weeping-willows,  actually  colossal  trees.  They  are  still 
quite  green.  The  grapes  ripen  in  the  open  air ;  Marcus 
has  only  to  put  his  hand  outside  the  garden-porch, 
around  which  the  vine -branches  form  a  leafy  bower, 
to  gather  whole  handfulls  of  beautiful  bunches,  with 
which  he  comes  in  and  regales  us.  And  I  often  walk 
in  a  long  pleached  alley  covered  with  vines,  where  I 
gather  and  eat.  The  grapes  are  of  a  pale  lilac  colour, 
small,  very  sweet  and  agreeable,  but  have  always  a  little 
lump  inside  which  is  rather  sour  and  unripe.  This  may 
be  peculiar  to  grapes  hi  this  country.  The  verandah 
which  ornaments  the  front  of  the  house  is  now 
splendid  with  the  most  beautiful  chrysanthemums.  In 
summer  they  tell  me  numbers  of  humming  birds  hover 
around  the  roses. 

NEW  YORK,  NINTH  STREET. 

Thursday,  November  15th. — Again  an  interruption  of 
several  days.  My  dear  child  !  life  is  to  me  like  a  rushing 
river,  and  I  must  be  borne  on  with  it,  taking  only  care  that 
I  don't  lose  life.  The  more  detailed  account  of  the  career 
and  its  adventures  I  must  leave  till  we  meet. 

Last  Sunday  morning  I  went  to  church  with  my 
friends — to  a  beautiful  church  with  painted  windows, 
which  give  a  somewhat  gloomy  appearance  to  the  church  ; 
people  here  are  so  afraid  of  sunshine.  The  building 
was  fine,  but  the  sermon,  by  a  Unitarian  preacher,  was 
of  the  most  meagre  description.  In  the  afternoon,  we 
drove  to  New  York,  to  hear  Channing.  There  is  always 
such  a  crowd  and  such  a  bustle  on  the  New  York  side 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOELD.  91 

of  East  River,  that  I  always  feel  as  if  one  must  there 
fight  for  life  and  limb.  Yet  it  is  very  seldom  that  any 
accident  occurs.  I  was  glad  to  be  able  to  hear  Charming, 
of  whose  extraordinary  ability  as  an  extempore  speaker 
I  had  heard  so  much.  The  room  in  which  the  lecture 
was  to  be  delivered,  and  which  might  hold  about 
five  hundred  persons,  was  quite  full.  It  was  built  as 
an  amphitheatre,  in  an  oval  half-circle.  Charming 
entered,  and  commenced  by  prayer,  standing  the  while 
with  his  face  turned  to  the  assembly.  After  this  he 
addressed  them,  but  with  downcast  eyes  and  in  a  careless 
and  almost  indifferent  manner.  The  subject  which  he 
besought  the  audience,  as  well  as  himself,  to  consider, 
was  "the  assembly  of  the  saints."  Some  beautiful 
observations  there  were,  but  the  whole  was  so  devoid  of 
any  deep  coherence,  so  undeveloped  and  without  applica 
tion,  so  wanting  in  life  and  warmth,  that  I  was  amazed 
in  the  highest  degree.  "  Is  this,"  thought  I,  "  American 
eloquence  ?  is  this  the  richly-gifted  orator  of  whom  I 
have  heard  so  much  praise  ?  And  those  downcast  looks, 
that  immovability — how  can  it  be  !  "  But  now  I  heard 
Rebecca  whisper  to  her  husband,  "  What  is  amiss  with 
Channing  ?  He  must  be  ill !  He  is  not  like  himself !  " 

This  consoled  me ;  because  I  now  perceived  that  this 
was  an  unusual  state  with  Channing.  He  was  actually 
not  like  himself.  That  inspired  expression  of  counte 
nance  which  I  had  so  often  seen  in  him  had  vanished. 
Several  times  he  stopped  and  seemed  endeavouring  to 
collect  himself.  But  the  discourse  could  not  proceed. 
It  was  painful  to  see  that  it  could  not,  and  at  length 
Channing  brought  it  to  a  sudden  close.  And  then,  with 
a  fine,  almost  hectic,  flush  mantling  his  cheek,  he  advanced 
a  step  or  two  and  said — 

"  I  feel  it  to  be  necessary  to  offer  an  excuse  to  the 
assembly  for  the  unsatisfactory  manner  in  which  I  have 
treated  niy  subject,  and  which  has  arisen  from  a  total 


92  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

want  of  spiritual  life  in  myself  this  evening,  and  of  which 
I  was  unconscious  when  I  entered  the  hall." 

The  undisguised  and  noble  candour  with  which  this 
explanation  was  given  refreshed  my  spirit,  as  did  also 
the  manner  in  which  his  friends  bore  the  disappointment 
of  the  evening.  One  could  see  that  they  thought,  "  it  is 
of  no  importance,  for  Charming  will  make  it  up  to  us 
another  time.  No  matter." 

A  little  circle  of  his  friends  surrounded  him,  whilst 
the  rest  of  the  numerous  assembly  quietly  left  the  hall. 
Afterwards  he  told  Marcus  and  Rebecca  that  he  could 
not  explain  the  weight  which  seemed  like  a  bewitchment 
to  have  enchained  his  powers  of  mind  that  evening.  He 
had  come  to  New  York  from  his  house  on  the  Hudson 
full  of  life,  excited  by  the  beautiful,  star-bright  evening, 
and  full  of  a  desire  to  speak.  But  when  he  entered  the 
hall,  he  had  become  like  a  person  deprived  of  the  use  of 
his  limbs,  and  he  could  not  shake  off  the  heavy  cramping 
fetters  which  he  was  disposed  to  ascribe  to  the  magic 
influence  of  some  opposing  evil  spirit. 

"When,  however,  I  see  at.  times  the  glance  of  Channing's 
eye,  the  fine  clear  crimson  of  his  cheek,  I  cannot  help 
asking  myself  whether  these  times  of  exaltation  are  not 
the  contents  of  a  dangerous  chalice  which,  while  they 
enhance  life,  bring  death  all  the  nearer  ;  the  Prometheus 
spirit  which  steals  the  fire  of  heaven  is  compelled  to  pay 
for  it  with  days  of  imprisonment  and  sorrow.  But 
who  could  or  who  would  prevent  the  bird  from  seeking 
the  mountain  even  though  he  become  the  prey  of  the 
fowler,  or  the  silk-worm  from  spinning,  although  she 
spins  her  own  tomb  ?  From  the  very  threads  that  she 
spins  the  human  race  after  all  make  their  holiday  attire. 

On  Monday  my  good  hosts  took  me  to  Miss  Lynch, 
who  lives  in  one  of  the  quiet  and  fashionable  quarters  of 
New  York.  And,  for  a  little  time,  I  took  leave  of  this 
couple,  so  pure-hearted,  so  happy  in  each  other,  so 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  93 

infinitely  kind  to  me.  But  I  shall  return  to  them  ;  with 
them  I  shall  have  my  head-quarters,  and  my  home 
whenever  I  return  into  this  neighbourhood ;  such  was 
the  agreement  between  us  before  we  parted. 

On  Tuesday  I  dined  with  Mrs.  Kirkland,  the  author  of 
that  excellent  and  amusing  book,  "  A  New  Home  in  the 
West,"  and  saw  in  the  evening  from  sixty  to  seventy  of 
her  friends.  Amongst  these  was  a  remarkably  agreeable 
gentleman  from  Illinois,  who  invited  me  to  his  house 
there,  and  who  promised  to  be  my  cicerone  in  that  part 
of  the  great  west.  Mrs.  Kirkland  is  one  of  the  strong 
women  of  the  country,  with  much  a  plomb,  but  with  also 
much  womanliness  both  of  heart  and  soul,  kind  as  a 
mother,  a  friend  and  fellow-citizen;  one  whom  I  like, 
and  of  a  character  to  which  I  feel  myself  attracted ;  her 
beautiful  smile  and  the  flash  of  her  brown  eye,  when  she 
becomes  animated,  betray  the  spirit  which  lives  in  her 
book  of  the  "  New  Home,"  but  over  which  the  mis 
fortunes  and  burden  of  life  seem  afterwards  to  have  cast 
a  veil. 

On  Wednesday  I  was  taken  to  a  lady's  academy, 
called  "  the  Rutger  Institution,"  from  the  name  of  the 
founder,  and  here  I  saw  four  hundred  and  sixty  young 
girls,  and  some  excellent  arrangements  for  their  instruc 
tion  and  cultivation.  I  also  heard  and  read  several 
compositions  by  the  young  girls,  both  in  prose  and  verse ; 
and  I  could  not  but  admire  the  perspicuity  of  thought, 
the  perfection  of  the  language,  and  above  all,  the  living 
and  beautiful  feeling  for  life  which  these  productions 
displayed.  Genius,  properly  so  called,  I  did  not  find  in 
them ;  and  I  question  the  wisdom  of  that  publicity  which 
is  given  to  such  youthful  efforts.  I  fear  that  it  may 
awaken  ambition  and  an  inclination  to  give  importance 
to  literary  activity,  which  befools  many  young  minds, 
while  so  few  are  possessed  of  the  divine  gift  of  genius 
which  alone  makes  literature  as  well  as  authors  good  for 


94  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

anything.  I  fear  that  it  causes  them  to  forget  for  a  mere 
show  of  life  the  heauty  of  that  life  of  which  Byron  speaks 
in  these  glorious  lines — 

Many  are  poets,  but  without  the  name ; 
Many  are  poets  who  have  never  penned 
Their  inspirations,  and  perchance  the  best ; 
They  felt,  and  loved,  and  died.  *  *  * 

They  compressed 

The  God  within  them,  and  regained  the  stars, 
Unlaurelled  upon  earth,  but  far  more  blessed 
Than  those  who  are  degraded  by  the  jars 
Of  passion  and  their  frailties  linked  to  fame, 
Conquerors  of  high  renown,  but  full  of  scars. 

I  have  also  taken  the  liberty  of  expressing  this  in  a 
little  preface  which  I  have  been  asked  to  write  for  these 
productions,  which  are  about  being  published.  And  in 
any  case,  these  words  of  Goethe,  in  "  Faust,"  apply  to  all 
writers — 

First  we  should  live ;  we  afterwards  may  write. 

These  young  girls  may  be  said  as  yet  scarcely  to  have 
lived,  known,  thought  enough  to  write  of  their  own 
experience,  their  own  faith  and  conviction.  They  write, 
as  people  sing,  by  the  ear.  It  is  good,  it  is  excellent  that 
every  one  should  early  learn  to  disentangle  their  thoughts, 
to  express  themselves  well  and  clearly,  and  for  this 
purpose  are  these  trials  of  authorship  commendable. 
But  the  publicity,  the  having  them  printed,  the  trum 
peting  them  abroad,  the  rewarding  them,  and  so  on,  can 
that  also  be  good  for  the  young,  for  any  one,  or  for 
anything  ? 

True  genius  will  in  its  own  way  and  its  own  time  make 
for  itself  a  path  to  praise  and  renown, 

For  it  is  a  god ; 

Its  own  course  it  knoweth, 

And  the  paths  through  the  clouds. 

After  having  gone  through  the  Institute,  and  taken 
breakfast  with  the  family  whose  name  it  bears,  and  which 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  95 

seems  to  belong  to  the  wealthy  and  fashionable  class 
of  the  city,  I  dined  with  the  N.'s,  whom  you  may 
remember  were  with  us  at  Arsta,  and  who  had  now 
kindly  invited  me  to  their  house.  They  wished  also  to 
take  me  to  the  opera  this  evening,  but  Miss  Lynch  was 
going  to  have  a  large  party,  where  I  was  to  be  introduced 
to  people,  and  people  were  to  be  introduced  to  me,  and 
I  drove  therefore  to  the  house  to  act  the  parrot  in  a  great 
crowd  of  people  till  towards  midnight.  These  introduc 
tions  are  very  wearisome  ;  because  I  must  for  a  hundred 
times  reply  to  the  same  questions,  and  these  for  the  most 
part  of  an  unmeaning  and  trivial  character,  just  as  people 
would  put  to  a  parrot,  whose  answers  are  known  before 
hand — for  example :  Had  you  a  good  passage  from 
England  ?  How  do  you  like  New  York  ?  How  do  you 
like  America  ?  How  long  have  you  been  here  ?  How 
long  do  you  think  of  remaining  ?  Where  are  you  going 
to  from  here  ?  and  such  like. 

It  is  true  that  numbers  of  really  kind  and  good- 
hearted  people  come  to  see  me,  and  I  am  not  mistaken 
in  the  feeling  which  brings  many  others ;  but  there  are 
too  many.  It  is  an  actual  whirl  of  presentations  and 
scraps  of  conversation  which  serves  no  other  purpose 
than  to  make  the  soul  empty  and  the  body  weary.  A  good 
earnest  conversation  with  an  earnest  person  would  be  a 
refreshment.  But  scarcely  could  I  have  begun  such  a  one 
before  I  must  turn  round  my  head  again  to  reply  to  the 
question,  "  Had  you  a  good  passage  ?"  or  "  What  do  you 
think  of  New  York  ?  "  or  "  How  do  you  like  America  ?  " 

Such  fetes  as  these  are  one's  ruin !  And  in  the  mean 
time  I  am  taken  up  with  visits,  letters,  and  notes, 
invitations,  autographs,  so  that  I  have  no  time  for  myself. 
I  had  this  morning  a .  charming  visit  from  a  little  lady 
doctor,  tha,t  is  to  say,  a  lady  who  practises  the  healing 
art,  a  Miss  H.  H.,  "  female  physician,"  as  she  calls 
herself,  from  Boston,  who  invited  me  to  her  house  there, 


96  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

insisted  upon  it  that  I  must  come,  would  not  let  me 
escape  till  I  had  promised,  and  was  all  the  time  so  full 
of  animation,  and  so  irresistibly  merry  that  we,  she  and 
I  and  the  whole  company,  burst  into  one  peal  of  laughter 
after  another.  There  was  besides  so  much  that  was 
excellent  and  really  sensible  in  what  she  said,  and  I  felt 
that  there  was  so  much  heart  in  the  zealous  little 
creature,  that  I  could  not  help  liking  her,  and  made  her 
the  promise  as  she  wished.  With  her  was  another  lady, 
as  quiet  as  she  was  active,  a  female  professor  of  phreno 
logy,  who  wished  to  get  hold  of  my  head.  But  my  poor 
head  has  now  enough  to  do  to  hold  itself  up  in  the  whirl 
of  company  life. 

I  have  passed  the  forenoon  in  making  visits  with 
Mrs.  Kirkland,  and  at  six  o'clock  I  went  to  dine  with 
Consul  Habicht,  our  Swedish  Consul  in  New  York,  who 
is  very  agreeable  and  polite,  but  who  dines  so  horribly 
late.  In  the  morning  I  shall  be  taken  by  a  lively  lady, 
Mrs.  L.,  to  her  country  seat  on  the  Hudson,  and 
on  Saturday  I  return  to  see  a  great  number  of  people  at 
Miss  Lynch's.  And  thus  is  every  day  occupied  for  the 
whole  time. 

Sunday  the  ~L$th. — And  now  for  a  short  time  before 
going  to  church  let  me  converse  a  little  with  my  Agatha. 
Do  you  know  that  it  is  really  remarkable  what  I  have 
gone  through,  both  as  regards  people  and  things.  I  am 
beginning  to  have  an  esteem  for  rrryself.  But  it  is  really 
necessary  to  be  strong  as  a  stranger  and  a  guest  in  this 
country. 

The  day  before  yesterday  Mrs.  L.  (an  excellent  type 
of  the  exuberantly  youthful  life  of  the  people  of  the 
New  World),  fetched  me  and  Miss  Lynch  to  her  villa  on 
the  Hudson.  But  firstly,  we  had  to  pay  a  morning  visit 
to  a  rich  lady,  who  had  a  morning  reception,  then  to  a 
little  Quaker  lady,  eighty-four  years  old,  the  handsomest 
little  old  woman  I  ever  saw,  and  who  in  her  delicate  white 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  97 

Quaker  garments  and  muslin,  seemed  to  me  like  a  living 
holiday.  I  made  a  sketch  of  her  head  in  my  album,  to 
Mrs.  L.'s  great  delight,  who  desired  people  to  come  and 
look  at  the  old  lady,  and  at  me  as  I  sketched  her. 

After  this  we  drove  to  a  great  lunatic  asylum,  Blu- 
mingdale,  as  it  is  called.  And  here  I  was  delighted — 
delighted  by  the  affectionate  consideration  for  the  patient 
which  is  shown  in  everything,  and  which  treats  these,  the 
earth's  most  unfortunate  beings,  as  the  children  of  the 
family.  Music  is  heard  in  many  of  the  rooms,  for  there 
is  a  considerable  number  of  pianos  in  the  establishment ; 
and  the  feeble  mind  seemed  especially  to  enjoy  the  relaxa 
tion  it  thus  obtained.  Without,  flowers  were  cultivated 
and  planted  in  garden  beds  (within,  the  ladies  also  made 
flowers).  There  was  also  a  museum  of  minerals,  shells, 
stuffed  birds,  and  other  animals,  besides  a  library  and 
other  things  :  all  calculated  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the 
diseased  mind,  and  to  turn  it  from  its  morbid  self- 
observation  to  the  observation  of  other  objects,  and  to 
occupy  it  therewith.  The  park  which  surrounds  the 
house,  is  large  and  beautiful;  and  the  patients  may 
wander  undisturbed  in  its  many  alleys,  enjoy  the  beauty 
of  the  country,  and  rest  on  the  benches  under  the  trees. 
The  flowers  were  a  real  luxury  here,  and  on  all  hands  one 
met  with  agreeable  objects,  with  the  exception,  of  course, 
of  the  poor  lunatics  themselves.  Nay,  even  in  them  also, 
for  in  them  one  sees  objects  of  much  mercy — mercy  which 
produces  the  most  beautiful  results,  because  the  method 
which  is  universally  adopted  in  the  United  States  for  the 
treatment  of  the  insane,  operates  so  beneficially  that  their 
recovery  belongs  to  the  rule,  incurable  insanity  forming 
the  exception  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  on  the  commencement  of 
the  disease  the  patient  has  been  immediately  placed  in 
one  of  these  excellent  asylums. 

From  this  asylum  we  continued  our  way  into  the 
country.  Our  hostess  continually,  as  we  drove  along, 


98  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

springing  out  of  the  carriage,  now  to  fetch  a  basket  with 
cakes  and  other  things  for  her  housekeeping,  now  for 
bouquets  for  Miss  Lynch  and  myself.  At  length  we  came 
to  the  beautiful  villa,  F.  Hall,  on  the  Hudson,  where  we 
found  a  large  family  party  assembled,  and  where 
Mr.  L.,  a  kind  old  gentleman  and  a  Quaker,  just  as 
quiet  in  body  and  mind  as  his  wife  was  restless,  was 
waiting  dinner  for  us, — a  substantial  and  delicious  dinner, 
as  were  all  the  dinners  I  saw  in  this  country.  In 
the  evening  we  had  a  party  of  about  sixty  persons.  It 
was  more  agreeable  than  I  expected,  and  fatigued  me 
less.  But  ah !  how  these  Americans,  and  in  particular 
these  lady  Americans,  do  ask  question  upon  question ! 
My  gay  hostess — a  sort  of  Amelia  A.,  but  with  yet 
higher  "  spirits," — refreshed  and  amused  me.  She  was  so 
full  of  unaffectedly  fresh  life.  Thus,  for  example,  she 
sung,  and  very  well  too  ;  but  there  was  a  part  of  the  song 
which  was  evidently  too  high  for  her  voice,  and  when  she 
came  to  this  a  second  time,  she  stopped  short  just  as  if 
the  notes  had  stuck  fast  in  her  throat,  rose  up  and  left 
the  piano,  as  much  untroubled  as  if  she  had  been  singing 
alone  to  herself,  and  went  and  chatted  and  laughed  with 
various  people  in  the  company.  This  was  all  very  sweet 
and  fresh.  Mr.  L.  is  a  handsome,  fatherly  old  gentle 
man,  whom  I  like  much.  He  is  his  wife's  second  husband ; 
and  beneath  this  family  life  there  is  a  romantic  love-story, 
more  beautiful  and  noble  than  one  generally  finds  in 
written  romances. 

I  slept  well,  and  awoke  by  seeing  a  strong  red  light 
shining  through  the  Venetian  shutters  of  my  window.  I 
thought  of  fire,  and  sprang  up.  But  it  was  the  crimson 
light  of  sunrise  which  glowed  with  pale  red  flames  in  the 
eastern  heavens,  above  the  green  heights,  above  the  calm 
mirror-like  river,  and  the  white  sails  quietly  sleeping,  and 
which  now,  as  it  were,  shook  off  sleep,  awoke  by  its 
splendour.  It  was  enchantingly  beautiful.  I,  too,  shook 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  99 

off  sleep,  both  of  body  and  mind,  at  tbis  glorious  spectacle. 
This  Aurora  which  kissed  and  transfigured  everything, 
living  or  dead  !  For  such  sights  and  such  scenes  is 
King  David's  song  of  praise  alone  available.  "  Sing  to 
the  Lord  a  new  song !  Sing  to  the  Lord  all  the  earth !  " 

That  beautiful  morning  hour  passed  by,  and  I  went 
down  to  breakfast.  Then  began  the  torment  of  the  day, 
with  company  both  in  doors  and  out,  and  the  eternal 
questions,  which  did  not  leave  me  a  moment's  peace,  and 
which  interrupted  every  dawning  sentiment  of  delight  in 
the  lovely  landscape.  Some  handsome  young  girls,  in 
particular,  drove  me  almost  to  desperation  by  their — 
"  Miss  Bremer,  have  you  seen  the  telegraph  there,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  ?  "  "  Miss  Bremer,  do  you  see  the 
railway  down  there  ?  "  "  Miss  Bremer,  do  you  see  the 
splendid  foliage  on  the  river-banks?"  And  "Miss  Bremer, 
have  you  such  in  Sweden  ?  " 

To  hear  and  to  have  to  answer  such  questions  as  these 
two  or  three  times,  is  quite  too  much ;  but  if  they  are 
repeated  six  or  seven  times,  and  one  does  not  see  any  end 
to  it ! — At  length,  quite  worn  out  by  it,  I  told  Mrs.  L. 
that  I  could  not  bear  company  in  the  morning,  but  that 
during  this  time  I  must  be  a  little  alone ;  she  took  it  well 
and  kindly, — mentioned  it  to  the  young  girls,  who  also 
were  very  amiable  about  it,  and  left  me  in  peace.  But 
I  fear  that  the  young  have  lived  with  nature,  as  if  they 
heard  her  not,  and  forgot  her  for  railroads  and  outward 
glittering  things,  and  see  not  in  her  an  instructress  and  a 
friend.  If  it  were  not  so,  they  would  talk  less  and  listen 
more,  or  have  a  little  more  reflection.  But  it  is  not  their 
fault. 

In  the  forenoon  I  drove  round  in  the  carriage  with  my 
hostess,  Bancroft,  the  historian,  and  Anne  Lynch  to  call 
on  several  of  the  neighbours.  I  saw  in  their  beautiful 
villas  a  vast  amount  of  comfort  and  even  the  exquisite 
luxury  of  pictures  and  statues ;  met  in  one  place  with  a 

H2 


100  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

horrible  lion-hunter,  who  tormented  us  with  talk,  albums, 
the  desire  for  autographs  and  subscriptions  and  so  on, 
and  persecuted  us  even  to  our  carriage,  whither  we  had 
betaken  ourselves,  calling  after  Mr.  Bancroft  to  know 
where  he  lived.  "  Drive,  drive  !  "  cried  we,  laughing,  and 
so  drove  as  fast  as  we  could  to  the  so-called  "  High 
Bridge,"  where  a  glorious  natural  scene  met  our  eyes. 
Yes,  the  scenery  of  this  new  world  seems  to  me  rich  and 
beautiful  ;  if  one  could  only  see  it  in  peace,  and  with 
time  for  reflection !  But  here,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
New  York,  people  seem  obliged  every  moment  to  turn 
their  heads  or  their  attention  to  the  Croton  Aqueduct, 
which  conveys  water  from  Croton  to  New  York,  a  mag 
nificent  and  excellent  work,  invaluable  to  the  great  city ; 
but  which  gave  me  a  deal  of  trouble  !  But  now  to 
proceed  on  our  drive.  Our  hostess  talked  and  laughed 
and  joked  the  whole  time  in  her  overflowing  animation 
and  merriment.  The  carriage  jumped  over  stock  and 
stone  along  the  bad  road,  like  a  leaping  calf.  I  sat  silent 
and  patient,  out  of  sheer  'fatigue.  Thus  drove  we  round 
the  country  and  shore,  and  at  length  back  to  dinner,  to 
see  company,  write  autographs,  and  so  on ;  then  drove  at 
full  gallop  to  New  York,  where  the  Downings  were  to 
meet  me,  and  a  great  party  at  Miss  Lynch's.  To  this 
house  on  the  Hudson  also,  and  to  this  lady  did  I 
promise  to  return  next  summer,  to  go  with  her  to  her 
father's  large  farm,  where  she  was  brought  up,  and 
where  her  father  and  sisters  still  lived.  Yes,  we  were 
to  do  a  deal  together.  But  ah !  the  exuberantly  ardent 
lady,  who  I  think  might  prevent  the  Hudson  from 
freezing,  I  feel  myself  like  a  feeble  fly  beside  her,  and 
cannot  but  remember  the  story  of  "  Le  pot  de  fer  et  le  pot 
de  terre" 

The  Downings  were  already  in  Miss  Lynch's  parlour 
when  I  arrived.  I  was  so  glad  to  see  them,  and  to  be  able 
to  pour  out  my  heart  to  them  in  full  freedom,  that  all  at 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  101 

once  I  felt  myself  rested.  And  if  you  had  seen  me  a  few 
hours  later  in  a  company  of  about  a  hundred  people,  you 
would  not  have  imagined  that  a  few  hours  before  I  had 
been  weary  and  completely  knocked  up.  Only  to  see  the 
Downings  revived  me,  to  say  nothing  of  various  beautiful 
acts  of  kindness  on  their  part.  Mr.  Downing  looked  so 
well  this  evening  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of  many 
people  by  his  remarkable  and  distinguished  appearance,  as 
he  wandered  among  the  crowd  with  his  reserved  demeanour, 
his  deep  and  speaking  eye,  his  half  shy,  half  proud 
expression.  The  company  at  Miss  Lynch's  this  evening- 
was  remarkably  handsome :  I  saw  some  splendid  toilettes 
and  some  splendid  figures  among  the  ladies.  The  men, 
in  a  general  way,  are  not  handsome ;  but  they  have  a 
manly  appearance, — have  good  foreheads,  bright  eyes,  a 
cheerful  and  determined  manner.  The  hostess  herself,  in 
an  elegant  white  dress,  exactly  suited  to  her  slender  and 
well-made  figure,  and  with  a  white  flower  in  her  hair, 
ornamenting  that  simply  beautiful  and  graceful  head,  was 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  forms  in  the  company,  moving 
about  lightly  and  freely  as  a  bird,  introducing  people  to 
one  another,  mingling  them  in  conversation  in  such  a 
manner  as  always  gave  pleasure  with  those  happy  words 
and  expressions  which  some  people  can  never  hit  upon, 
let  them  seek  ever  so  much,  but  which  others  can  hit  upon 
without  seeking  for ;  and  Anne  Lynch  is  one  of  these. 

I  distinguished  myself  peculiarly  as  a  flower- distributor. 
I  had  received  a  great  number  of  flowers  to-day,  and  I  was 
thus  enabled  to  give  a  little  bouquet  of  flowers  to  one  and 
another  lady  in  company.  This  flower- distribution  pleased 
me  greatly,  because  it  furnished  me  with  an  opportunity  of 
saying,  or  at  all  events,  of  looking  a  little  kindness  to 
many  a  one.  And  this  is  nearly  the  only  thing  I  can 
return  for  all  the  kindness  which  I  receive  here. 

Among  the  guests  of  the  evening  I  remember  in  par 
ticular  an  agreeable  Mrs.  Osgood,  one  of  the  best  poetesses 


102  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  tlie  United  States,  not  only  for  her  beautiful  speaking 
eyes,  her  manner  and  style  of  expression,  both  so  full  of 
soul,  but  also  because  she  placed  in  my  hands  her  fan, 
saying  that  it  must  remind  me  of  "  Fanny."  All  the  ladies 
in  this  country  use  fans,  and  flutter  and  manoeuvre  a 
great  deal  with  them;  but  I,  as  yet,  had  not  furnished 
myself  with  one.  I  remember  also  in  particular  a  gentle 
man  with  splendid  eyes,  and  frank,  cordial  manner,  whom 
I  wished  I  could  have  had  more  conversation  with,  for 
there  was  evidently  both  genius  and  heart  in  him.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  preachers  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  New  York,  and  is  named  Hawks.  This  was, 
as  yet,  the  most  entertaining  evening  party  I  had  been  to 
in  this  country. 

Later. — I  have  now  been  to  church  with  Mrs.  Kirkland, 
and  have  heard  one  of  the  best  sermons  I  ever  heard : 
no  narrow-minded  sectarian  view  of  religion  and  life,  but 
one  in  which  the  church — a  regular  cathedral  church — 
arched  itself  over  life,  as  the  dome  of  heaven  arches 
itself  over  earth  and  all  its  creatures;  a  large-minded 
sermon,  such  as  properly  befits  the  New  World,  that 
great  new  home  for  all  the  people,  and  all  the  races  of  the 
world.  Bergfalk  was  also  among  the  audience,  and  was 
as  much  struck  as  I  was  with  the  sermon  and  the  preacher, 
Mr.  Bellows. 

I  am  now  going  to  dine  with  my  friends,  the  Downings, 
at  the  Astor  House;  and  the  evening  I  spend  with  a 
family  of  the  name  of  S.  To-morrow  I  go  to  a  grand 
dinner,  and  in  the  evening  to  the  opera. 

Thursday. — Is  there  in  this  world  anything  more  weari 
some,  more  dismal,  more  intolerable,  more  indigestible, 
more  stupefying,  more  unbearable,  anything  more  calcu 
lated  to  kill  both  soul  and  body  than  a  great  dinner  at 
New  York  ?  For  my  part,  I  do  not  believe  there  is. 
People  sit  down  to  table  at  half-past  five  or  six  o'clock ; 
they  are  sitting  at  table  at  nine  o'clock,  sitting  and  being 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  103 

served  with,  the  one  course  after  another,  with  the  one 
indigestible  dish  after  another,  eating  and  being  silent.  I 
have  never  heard  such  a  silence  as  at  these  great  dinners. 
In  order  not  to  go  to  sleep,  I  am  obliged  to  eat,  to  eat 
without  being  hungry,  and  dishes,  too,  which  do  not  agree 
with  me.  And  all  the  while  I  feel  such  an  emotion  of 
impatience  and  wrath  at  this  mode  of  wasting  time  and 
God's  good  gifts,  and  that  in  so  stupidly  wearisome  a 
manner,  that  I  am  just  ready  to  fling  dish  and  plate  on 
the  floor  and  repay  hospitality  by  a  sermon  of  rebuke,  if  I 
only  had  courage  enough.  But  I  am  silent,  and  suffer 
and  grumble  and  scold  in  silence.  Not  quite  beau 
tiful  this  ;  but  I  cannot  help  it !  I  was  yesterday  at 
one  of  these  great  dinners  —  a  horrible  feast !  Two 
elderly  gentlemen,  lawyers,  sat  .  opposite  me,  sat  and 
dozed  while  they  opened  their  mouths  to  put  in  the 
delicacies  which  were  offered  to  them.  At  our  peasant- 
weddings,  where  people  also  sit  three  hours  at  table,  there 
are,  nevertheless,  talk  and  toasts,  and  gifts  for  the  bride 
and  bridegroom,  and  fiddlers  to  play  in  every  dish ;  but 
here  one  has  nothing  but  the  meat.  And  the  dinners  in 
Denmark  !  I  cannot  but  think  of  them,  with  their  few 
but  excellent  dishes,  and  animated  cheerful  guests,  who 
merely  were  sometimes  too  loud  in  their  zeal  for  talking, 
and  making  themselves  heard;  the  wit,  the  joke,  the 
stories,  the  toasts,  the  conversations,  that  merry,  free, 
lively  laisser  aller,  which  distinguishes  Danish  social  life  ; 
in  truth,  it  was  champagne — champagne  for  soul  and  body 
at  the  entertainments  there ! — the  last  at  which  I  was 
present  in  Europe  before  I  came  hither.  But  these 
entertainments  here  !  they  are  destined  to  hell,  as  Heiberg 
says  in  "  A  Soul  after  Death,"  and  they  are  called  "  the 
tiresome."  And  they  ought  to  be  introduced  into  the 
Litany.  On  this  occasion,  however,  Fortune  was  kind 
to  me  and  placed  by  my  side  the  interesting  clergyman, 
Dr.  Hawks,  who  during  dinner  explained  to  me  with  his 


104  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

beautiful  voice,  and  in  his  lucid  and  excellent  manner,  his 
ideas  regarding  the  remains  in  Central  America,  and  his 
hypothesis  of  the  union  of  the  two  continents  of  America 
and  Asia  in  a  very  remote  age.  It  was  interesting  to  hear 
him,  and  interesting  would  it  be  to  me  to  see  and  hear 
more  of  this  man,  whose  character  and  manner  attract 
me.  He  also  is  among  those  who  have  invited  me  to  his 
house  and  home,  but  whose  invitation  I  am  obliged  to 
decline,  and  in  this  case  I  feel  that  it  is  a  renunciation 
and  loss. 

As  he  led  me  from  the  dinner-table,  I  proposed  to  him 
to  preach  against  such  dinners.  But  he  shook  his  head, 
and  said,  with  a  smile,  "Not  against  dinners,  Miss 
Bremer  !  " 

Gentlemen,  even  the  best  of  them,  are  decidedly  too 
fond  of  eating. 

When  at  night  I  went  home  with  Anne  Lynch,  the  air 
was  delicious,  and  the  walk  through  this  night  air,  and 
in  the  quiet  streets — the  causeways  here  are  broad  and 
as  smooth  as  a  house-floor — very  agreeable.  The  starry 
heavens — God's  town — stood  with  streets  and  groups  of 
glittering  dwellings  in  quiet  grandeur  and  silence  above 
us.  And  here,  in  that  quiet,  starlight  night,  Anne 
Lynch  unfolded  all  her  soul  to  me,  and  I  saw  an  earnest 
and  profound  depth,  bright  with  stars,  such  as  I  scarcely 
expected  in  this  gay  being,  who,  butterfly-like,  flutters 
through  the  life  of  society  as  in  its  proper  element.  I 
had  always  thought  her  uncommonly  agreeable,  had 
admired  the  ability  with  which  she,  without  affluence, 
and  who,  alone  by  her  talents  and  personal  endowments, 
had  made  for  herself  and  for  her  estimable  mother  an  inde 
pendence,  and  by  which  she  had  become  the  gathering 
point  for  the  literary  and  the  most  cultivated  society  of 
New  York,  who  assembled  once  a  week  in  her  drawing- 
room.  I  had  admired  also  her  inoffensive  wit ;  her 
child-like  gaiety  and  good-humour,  and  especially  liked 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  105 

a  certain  expression  in  her  eye,  as  if  it  were  seeking  for 
something,  "  something  a  long,  long  way  off,"  even  in 
her  apparently  dissipated  worldly  life ;  in  a  word,  I  had 
liked  her,  had  a  deep  interest  in  her — now  I  loved  her. 
She  is  one  of  the  birds  of  Paradise  which  skims  over 
the  world  without  soiling  its  wings  with  its  dust.  Anne 
Lynch,  with  her  individuality  and  her  position  in  society, 
is  one  of  the  peculiar  figures  of  the  New  World. 

The  evening  and  night  parties  which  I  see  here 
are,  for  the  rest,  not  to  compare  with  the  most  beautiful 
of  the  kind  which  I  have  seen  in  Sweden  and  Denmark. 
Here  there  is  not  space  nor  yet  flowers  enough,  nor  air 
enough.  Above  everything,  I  lack  costume,  character  in 
dress.  The  ladies  are  handsome,  are  well  and  tastefully 
dressed,  but  they  are  too  much  like  one  another.  The 
gentlemen  are  all  dressed  alike.  This  cannot  here  be 
otherwise,  and  it  is  good  and  right  at  the  bottom.  But 
it  is  not  good  for  picturesque  effect.  Nor  does  it  seem 
to  me  that  the  mental  individuality  is  sufficiently  marked 
to  produce  an  outward  impression.  But  to  this  subject 
I  must  return. 

At  the  opera  this  evening  I  saw  a  large  and  handsome 
building;  splendid  toilettes  in  the  boxes,  and  on  the 
stage  a  prima  donna,  as  Desdemona,  against  whom  I 
have  nothing  to  object,  excepting  that  she  could  love 
such  a  disagreeable  Othello.  The  music,  the  singing, 
and  the  scenery,  all  tolerably  good  (with  the  exception  of 
Othello),  but  nothing  very  good.  One  might  say,  ce  n'est 
•pas  ga !  but  there  was  nothing  which  would  make  one 
think  "C'est  $a!"  like  a  tone,  a  glance,  a  gesture  of 
Jenny  Lind. 

A  lecture  was  delivered  last  Sunday  evening,  in  the 
same  hall  where  I  had  heard  Channing,  on  Christian 
Socialism,  by  Mr.  Henry  James,  a  wealthy,  and,  as  it 
is  said,  a  good  man.  His  doctrine  was  that  which 
recognises  no  right  but  that  of  involuntary  attraction, 


106  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

no  law  of  duty  but  that  of  the  artist's  worship  of  beauty, 
no  God  but  that  of  the  pantheist,  everywhere  and 
yet  nowhere — a  doctrine  of  which  there  is  no  lack  of 
preachers  either  in  Sweden.  After  the  conclusion  of  the 
discourse,  which  was  given  extempore,  with  accordant  life 
and  flashing  vivacity,  Channing  arose  and  said,  that  "  if 
the  doctrine  which  we  had  just  heard  enunciated  were 
Christian  Socialism,  then  he  did  not  agree  with  it ;  that 
the  subject  ought  to  be  searched  to  the  bottom;  that  he 
considered  the  views  of  the  speaker  to  be  erroneous,  and 
that  on  the  following  Sunday  he  would  take  up  the  question 
in  that  place,  and  show  them  in  what  the  errors  of  these 
views  consisted." 

The  thing  has  excited  attention,  because  both  speakers 
are  fellow-labourers  in  a  newspaper  called  "  The  Spirit 
of  the  Age,"  and  both  are  men  of  distinguished  talent. 
I  am  glad,  as  I  shall  thus  have  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  Channing  before  I  leave  New  York,  and  that  on 
one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  of  the  day  and 
period. 

The  next  letter  which  you  will  receive  from  me  will 
be  from  the  homes  of  New  England.  Next  Monday  I 
set  off  with  the  S.'s.  One  of  the  first  homes  in  which 
I  shall  rest  after  the  festival  of  Thanksgiving  Day, 
will  be  that  of  the  excellent  and  noble  poet  Lowell. 
The  invitation  came  to  me  from  himself  and  his  wife, 
while  I  was  with  the  Downings.  As  yet  I  have  scarcely 
done  anything  but  go  from  one  house  to  another,  in 
teresting,  but  troublesome,  for  one  must  always  be 
charged,  if  not  exactly  with  genius,  at  least  with  good- 
humour  and  strength  to  see  company,  and  to  be  agree 
able,  when  one  often  feels  oneself  so  weary  as  not  to  be 
good  for  anything  else  than  to  sit  in  a  corner  and  be 
silent — or  spin.  But,  thank  God  for  all  that  is  good 
and  joy- giving !  And  how  much  more  joyfully  should  I 
spin  this  life  of  festivals  and  living  impressions  if  I  did 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  107 

but  know  that  you,  my  little  Agatha,  were  joyful  and  a 
little  better.  We  cannot,  however,  expect  very  much  at 
this  time  of  the  year.  I  kiss  mamma's  hand,  and  thank 
her  for  that  dear  letter,  and  embrace  you  across  the 
great  waters. 


LETTEK  VI. 

WESTBOROTCH,  Dec.  2nd,  1849. 

MY  DEAE  LITTLE  AGATHA, — I  now  write  to  you  from  a 
little  town  near  Boston,  while  waiting  for  the  railway 
train,  which  at  five  o'clock  will  take  us,  that  is  to  say, 
myself,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.,  their  little  son  Eddy,  and 
Professor  Bergfalk,  whom  I  induced  to  come  with  us.  He 
must  not  begin  here  to  bury  himself  among  books  as  he 
did  in  Sweden :  he  must  go  abroad,  and  see  a  little  of 
life  and  mankind  here  to  begin  with,  and  celebrate  the 
festival  of  Thanksgiving  —  one  of  the  really  national 
festivals  of  the  Americans — in  the  heart  of  the  State 
where  it  arose,  and  where  it  still  is  cordially  main 
tained.  When  winter  comes,  he  may  read  to  his  heart's 
content  in  his  beloved  books.  The  truth  is  Bergfalk 
was  not  hard  to  persuade,  but  came  willingly  and  with 
pleasure. 

I  wrote  to  you  last  in  New  York  during  my  warfare 
there.  It  was  very  troublesome  to  me,  and  did  not  mend  at 
Brooklyn.  Strangers  came  from  morning  to  evening,  and, 
though  many  amiable  people  were  among  them,  I  longed 
many  a  time  merely  to  lie  down  and  sleep.  I  must, 
however,  tell  you  of  the  occasions  when  the  interest  of  the 
moment  chased  away  all  drowsiness  and  fatigue  and  made 
me  more  awake  than  ever.  Amongst  these  stands  fore 
most  the  evening  of  Channing's  improvised  lecture. 
Last  Sunday  evening  Channing  was  fully  himself,  and 
his  discourse  poured  forth  like  a  clear  rushing  river, 


108  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

logical,  perspicuous,  glorious  in  subject  and  in  elaboration. 
It  was  to  me  a  spiritual  feast.  He  started  with  the  idea  of 
a  personal  God  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  pantheist,  every 
where  and  nowhere ;  developing  from  that  divine  per 
sonality  the  thence  derived  doctrine  of  duty,  of  social  law, 
of  beauty,  of  immortality  as  applicable  to  every  man,  to 
every  human  society,  and  proved  how  merely  upon  this 
ground  Christian  Socialism,  or  Christian  community,  could 
become  stable,  could  advance  humanity  to  its  highest 
purpose.  Channing  did  not  this  time  interrupt  himself 
once  ;  he  did  not  replace  a  single  word,  carried  along  by  a 
continued  inspiration,  sustained  by  an  enthusiasm  without 
extravagance,  without  passion,  never  violating  the  law  of 
beauty,  and  with  a  polemical  creed  which  never  wounded 
the  divine  law.  He  merely  once  said  in  a  somewhat 
sharper  tone,  that  the  "  person  who  did  not  in  his  own 
breast  become  conscious  of  the  duality  of  human  nature, 
who  did  not  combat  with  a  lower  self,  is  either  without 
humanity,  or  is  deeply  to  be  pitied." 

The  hall  was  quite  full  of  people,  and  the  profoundest 
attention  prevailed.  At  the  close  of  the  oration  a  circle 
of  congratulating  friends  gathered  around  Channing.  I 
saw  even  the  speaker  of  the  former  evening,  Mr.  H.  James, 
go  forward  to  Channing,  lay  his  hand  upon  his  shoulder, 
as  if  caressingly,  as  he  said  "  You  have  done  me  an 
injustice  ;  you  have  misunderstood  me  ! "  He  seemed 
pale  and  agitated,  but  perfectly  kind. 

I  went  in  a  little  carriage  alone  with  Channing  from 
Brooklyn  to  New  York  this  evening,  and  remarked 
how  desirous  he  seemed  of  dissipating  his  thoughts  and 
occupying  them  with  subjects  foreign  to  that  of  the 
lecture.  Now,  as  he  took  me  back  to  the  carriage  and 
we  were  about  to  separate  (lie  was  to  remain  in  New 
York,  and  I  was  returning  to  Brooklyn),  I  could  not  avoid 
saying  to  him,  "  How  happy  you  must  have  felt  this 
evening !  " 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  109 

"  Yes,  oh  yes ! "  he  replied,  with  a  half  sigh ;  "  but 
then  I  have  wounded  Mr.  James  !  " 

Afterwards  he  extended  to  me  his  hand,  with  his 
beaming  smile,  and  said — 

"  We  shall  meet  in  the  morning  ! " 

But  when  comes  that  morning  ?  We  have  now  parted 
for  a  long  time.  But  it  is  true,  that  if  one  ever  meets 
a  spirit  like  that  of  Channing,  it  must  be  felt  like  a 
meeting  in  the  morning. 

I  recollect  one  evening  party  at  the  S.'s  with  especial 
pleasure.  There  were  a  sufficiency  of  space,  air,  flowers, 
and  some  remarkably  agreeable  people.  A  noble,  hand 
some  Miss  S.  recited  a  poem  with  much  pathos  of  voice, 
but  otherwise  altogether  quietly.  She  and  her  handsome 
sister  wore  real  chrysanthemums  in  their  hair.  One 
most  charming  young  girl  played  on  the  piano  one  of  her 
own  compositions,  full  of  sweet  feeling.  Young  C.  sang. 
They  danced  also.  It  was  a  gay,  agreeable  party,  where 
each  performed  some  social  duty,  and  where  all  seemed 
to  enjoy  .life,  and  each  other's  society. 

On  Monday  morning  we  set  off,  taking  our  way  through 
Connecticut.  I  left  New  York  and  Brooklyn  with  many 
an  unanswered  letter  of  invitation,  many  unvisited 
schools  and  institutions  coming  speeding  after  me,  as  if  to 
lay  hold  upon  me  !  I  had  a  bad  conscience.  I  actually 
ran  away  from  the  battle  of  people.  I  could  not  do 
otherwise.  If  I  had  been  two  people  I  could  not  have 
answered  all  the  invitations,  calls,  etc., — and  I  am  only 
one  !  But  I  shall  return  to  New  York.  I  must  yet  see 
something  more  of  its  best  and  of  its  worst ;  among  the 
latter,  that  portion  of  the  city  which  is  called  "  Five 
Points,"  from  five  streets  coming  together  at  one  place, 
and  where  the  lowest  and  the  most  dangerous  population 
of  the  city  has  its  abode.  I  asked  Mr.  D.,  in  joke, 
whether  he  would  go  through  the  "  Five  Points,"  with  me. 
He  answered  decidedly,  "  No."  Ah  !  "  II  bello  eil  buono" 


110  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

is  not  there  to  be  met  with.  But  beyond  the  beautiful 
and  the  good,  seek  I  for  truth  and  for  reality  in  every 
thing  and  everywhere.  I  must  also  make  myself  somewhat 
better  acquainted  with  the  five  points  in  the  refined  life  of 
New  York ;  for  I  know  that  there,  as  in  all  great  cities,  is 
also  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  the  higher  class  the  five 
ugly  and  dangerous  points.  As  the  first  point  I  reckon 
the  long  and  tiresome  dinners. 

New  York  appears  to  me  outwardly  a  plodding  and 
busy  city  without  beauty  and  interest.  There  are  beautiful 
and  quiet  parts,  with  beautiful  streets  and  dwellings  ;  but 
there  the  life  in  the  streets  is  dead.  On  the  Broadway, 
again,  there  is  an  endless  tumult  and  stir,  crowd  and 
bustle,  and  in  the  city  proper,  people  crowd  as  if  for  dear 
life,  and  the  most  detestable  fumes  poison  the  air.  New 
York  is  the  last  city  in  the  world  in  which  I  would  live. 
But  it  is  also  to  be  regarded  merely  as  a  vast  hotel,  a 
caravanserai  both  for  America  and  Europe.  Besides,  it  is 
true  that  I  always  felt  myself  there  in  such  a  state  of 
combat  and  so  fatigued,  that  I  had  not  time  to  look  around 
for  anything  beautiful.  But,  thank  heaven !  I  know 
Brooklyn,  and  there  I  could  both  live  and  sleep. 

And  now  let  us  proceed  on  our  way  through  the  valleys 
of  Connecticut  to  the  small  homes  of  New  England,  the 
home-land  of  the  earliest  pilgrims. 

In  the  afternoon  we  reached  Hartford.  We  were 
invited  for  the  evening  to  Mrs.  Sigourney's,  the  author  of 
"  Pleasant  Memories  from  Pleasant  Lands ; "  and  here  I 
shook  hands  with  the  whole  town  I  believe, — from  the 
bishop,  a  handsome  old  prelate,  to  the  school  girl,  and 
played  my  usual  part  in  society.  Mrs.  Sigourney,  a  very 
kind  little  sentimentalist,  but  a  very  agreeable  lady, 
dressed  in  green,  about  fifty  years  old,  with  a  good 
motherly  demeanour,  would  perforce  keep  me  with  her  all 
night,  and  I  could  not  go  back  to  my  excellent  chamber 
at  the  hotel,  which  I  would  so  gladly  have  done,  where  I 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  Ill 

might  rest  and  have  been  silent.  In  the  morning,  however, 
I  forgot  the  little  annoyance  in  breakfast  and  conversation 
with  my  kind  hostess  and  her  agreeable  only  daughter. 
The  sun  shone  into  the  room,  and  the  whole  had  the 
character  of  a  good  home  made  warm  by  love.  In  such 
homes  I  always  do  well,  and  I  should  have  liked  to  have 
stayed  longer  with  Mrs.  Sigourney  had  it  been  possible. 
At  parting  she  presented  me  with  a  handsome  volume  of 
her  collected  poetical  works,  and  therein  I  read  a  poem 
called  "  Our  Country,"  for  which  I  could  have  kissed  her 
hand,  so  beautiful  was  it,  and  so  noble  and  so  truly 
feminine  is  the  spirit  it  breathes.  As  coining  from  a 
woman  and  a  mother  there  is  great  beauty  in  the  following 
address  to  her  native  land — 

Ah  beautiful  and  glorious  !  thou  dost  wrap 
The  robes  of  Liberty  around  thy  breast, 
And  as  a  matron  watch  thy  little  ones 
Who  from  their  cradle  seek  the  village-school, 
Bearing  the  baptism  on  their  infant  brow 
Of  Christian  faith  and  knowledge ;  like  the  bud 
That  at  the  bursting  of  its  sheath,  doth  feel 
Pure  dews,  and  heavenward  turn. 

There  is  thy  strength, 

In  thy  young  children,  and  in  those  who  lead 
Their  souls  to  righteousness.     The  mother's  prayer 
With  her  sweet  lisper  ere  it  sinks  to  rest — 
The  faithful  teacher  mid  a  plastic  group — 
The  classic  halls,  the  hamlets  slender  spire, 
From  whence,  as  from  the  solemn  gothic  pile 
That  crowns  the  city's  pomp,  ascendeth  sweet 
Jehovah's  praise ;  these  are  thy  strength,  my  land  ! 
These  are  thy  hope. 

Oh  lonely  ark,  that  rid'st 
A  tossing  deluge,  dark  with  history's  wrecks, 
And  paved  with  dead  that  made  not  heaven  their  help, 
God  keep  thee  perfect  in  thy  many  parts, 
Bound  in  one  living  whole. 

After  those  pleasant  morning  hours  I  was  obliged  again 
to  see  people,  and  was  therefore  taken  out  by  my  hostess 
in  a  carriage  to  see  the  town,  which  appears  to  me  to  be 


112  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

well-built  and  well-situated.  The  public  buildings  are 
the  largest  and  the  most  ornamented  of  any  in  the 
town.  But  everything,  both  within  and  without,  testifies 
of  affluence  and  prosperity.  About  noon  I  took  leave  of 
my  friends  at  Hartford,  and  promised  to  come  back. 

It  was  rather  late  when  we  reached  Worcester,  where 
we  had  an  invitation  from  the  Mayor,  and  who  this 
evening  kept  open  house  in  our  honour.  As  soon,  there 
fore,  as  we  had  arrived,  we  were  obliged  to  dress  ourselves 
and  go  to  a  grand  party.  As  there  was  a  great  gathering 
in  the  town  of  the  schools  and  the  teachers  of  the  district, 
the  house  was  so  crowded  that  we  could  scarcely  move  in 
the  rooms,  and  my  host  himself  did  not  know  the  names 
of  many  persons  whom  he  presented  to  me.  But  it  was 
all  the  same  to  me,  because  it  is  very  seldom  that  those 
foreign  names  fix  themselves  in  my  memory ;  and  kind 
people  are  all  alike  welcome  to  a  friendly  hand- shaking 
with  me.  We  were  received  also  with  beautiful  and 
cordial  songs  of  welcome,  and  with  gifts  of  flowers  from 
handsome  girls  and  young  men.  I  played  the  Neck's 
polska  to  them,  and  Kebecca  S.  related  to  them,  in  my 
stead,  the  legend  of  the  Neck  and  the  Priest,  the  profound 
sentiment  of  which  never  fails  to  impress  the  mind  of  the 
hearer,  and  which  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  popular 
poetry  of  Scandinavia. 

Among  the  guests  in  company  was  the  celebrated 
blacksmith  and  linguist,  Elihu  Burrit,  a  very  tall  and 
strong-limbed  man,  with  an  unusually  lofty  forehead, 
large  beautiful  eyes,  and,  above  all,  handsome  and  strong 
features ; — a  man  who  would  excite  attention  in  any 
company  whatever,  as  well  for  his  appearance  as  for  the 
expression  of  singular  mildness  and  human  love  which 
marks  his  countenance.  He  had  lately  arrived  here 
from  the  Peace  Congress,  I  believe  in  Paris,  and  talked 
about  peace  principles,  of  which  much  is  said  and  taught 
in  these  the  oldest  lands  of  the  pilgrim  fathers.  I 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  113 

declared  myself  to  be  a  friend  of  war,  of  a  good  righteous 
war,  when,  at  least,  peace  cannot  have  a  great  and 
prolonged  life  011  earth.  But  what  is  now  the  state 
of  the  world  during  a  long  peace  ?  Do  not  thousands  of 
little  dwarfs  stick  up  their  heads  and  fight  with  pins 
or  pen-points,  sticking  and  scratching  from  right  to 
left,  calling  up  petty-mindedness,  selfishness,  bitterness, 
causing  petty  affronts,  wretched  gratification,  idle  tales 
and  endless  vexation  in  every  quarter  ?  Is  not  society 
broken  up  into  a  thousand  little  quarrels  and  little 
contentions  ?  If  now  a  serious,  honourable  war  occurred, 
like  the  giants  who  crush  the  dwarfs.  People  would  then 
forget  their  petty  contentions  for  great  common  interests. 
In  these  they  would  again  become  brothers :  and  after  the 
giants  come  the  gods,  and  with  them  the  renovation  of 
life.*  Mankind  must  evidently  grow  in  heart  and  in 
intelligence ;  and  the  community  must  perfect  its  work 
before  they  talk  about  universal  peace.  This  must 
proceed  from  within. 

Among  the  questions  which  were  this  evening  put  to 
me  was  this: — "What  do  you  think  of  so  many  people 
coming  to  see  you  ?  " — "  I  wish  that  I  were  handsomer !  " 
replied  I,  simply,  and  with  truth. 

Our  host  was  a  man  of  agreeable  person,  frank  and 
kind  as  a  true  American,  his  wife  was  a  graceful,  agreeable 
woman,  with  the  stamp  of  peacefulness  and  refine 
ment  which  I  have  frequently  observed  in  the  Quaker 
women,  and  which  makes  them  particularly  charming  to 
me.  She  had  lost  an  only  child ;  and  had  now  adopted  as 
her  own  a  little  boy,  who  loved  her  as  a  mother,  and  who 
scarcely  could  be  happy  when  away  from  her. 

We  spent  the  forenoon  of  the  following  day  in  visiting 
several  small  homes,  many  of  them  belonging  to  families 
of  Quakers,  which  were  all  distinguished  by  their  order 

*  As  Translator  I  beg  to  dissent  considerably  from  these  views  of  Miss 
Bremer.— M.  H. 

VOL.  I.  I 


114  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  neatness ;  but  also,  at  the  same  time,  I  fancied  by  a 
something  of  stiffness  and  emptiness  which  would  be 
oppressive  to  me.  After  this  we  continued  our  way 
to  Uxbridge,  where  we  were  to  keep  the  Thanksgiving 
festival. 

I  saw  from  the  railroad  the  paternal  home  of  Marcus  S. ; 
that  country  house  and  home  where  he  had  been  brought 
up  with  many  brothers  and  sisters,  and  to  which  his 
looks  were  now  directed  with  affection.  The  moon  arose 
and  shone  upon  the  waters  of  the  Blackstone  river,  along 
which  the  railroad  runs.  Lights  glimmered  from  the 
factories  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  I  saw  this 
landscape,  as  in  a  dream,  hour  after  hour,  and  rather 
saw  than  felt  its  beauty,  because  the  motion  and  the 
rattle  of  the  railway  carriage  produced  a  fatiguing  and 
deafening  effect. 

"We  took  up  our  quarters  with  a  newly  married  couple, 
a  physician  and  his  little  wife,  the  eldest  niece  of 
Marcus  S.  They  had  built  their  house  according  to 
one  of  Mr.  Downing's  designs,  and  laid  out  their  garden 
also  after  his  plan ;  and  here  they  lived  without  a  servant, 
the  wife  herself  performing  all  the  in- doors  work.  This 
is  very  much  the  custom  in  the  small  homes  of  the  New 
England  states,  partly  from  economic  causes,  and  partly 
from  the  difficulty  there  is  in  getting  good  servants.  I 
slept  in  a  little  chamber  without  a  fire-place,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  country  :  but  the  night  was  so  very 
cold  that  I  could  not  sleep  a  wink;  besides  which,  I 
was  visited  during  the  long  night  by  some  not  very 
pleasing  doubts  as  to  how  in  the  long  run  I  should  be  able 
to  get  on  in  this  country,  where  there  is  so  much  that  I 
am  unaccustomed  to.  When  the  sun  however  rose,  it 
shone  upon  a  little  white  church;  which  with  its  taper 
spire  rising  out  of  a  pine -wood  upon  a  height,  just  before 
my  window,  and  the  whole  landscape  lit  up  by  the  morn 
ing  sun,  presented  so  fresh,  so  northern,  so  Swedish  an 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  \YORLD.  115 

aspect  that  it  warmed  my  very  heart,  and  I  saluted 
Thanksgiving- day  with  right  thankful  feelings.  The 
whole  scene  with  its  hills  and  its  valleys,  now  brightened 
by  the  morning  sun,  actually  resembled  the  scenery 
around  us,  and  I  thought  of  the  Christmas  morning  at 
our  church  with  its  burning  candles ;  the  pine  wood 
and  the  lit-up  cottages  within  it,  the  peasants,  the  sledges 
with  their  little  bells,  and  all  the  cheerful  life  of  the 
sacred  Christmas  time !  But  our  little  red-painted 
cottages  were  changed  into  small  white  houses  which 
looked  much  more  affluent. 

My  hands  were  so  benumbed  with  cold  that  I  had 
difficulty  in  dressing,  and  was  all  in  a  shiver  when 
I  went  down  to  breakfast  in  that  little  room,  where, 
on  the  contrary,  it  was  stiflingly  hot  from  an  iron  stove. 
The  breakfast,  as  is  usual  in  the  country,  was  abundant 
and  excellent :  but  I  cannot  believe,  that  these  abundant 
hot  breakfasts  are  wholesome. 

After  breakfast  we  went  to  church,  for  this  day  is 
regarded  as  sacred  throughout  the  country.  The  preacher 
enumerated  all  the  causes  for  thankfulness  which  his 
community  had  had,  as  well  publicly  as  privately,  all  the 
good  which  they  had  experienced  since  the  Thanksgiving 
festival  of  the  foregoing  year ;  and  although  he  was 
evidently  not  of  a  practical  mind,  and  the  history  of  the 
year  was  given  rather  in  the  style  of  a  chronicle,  "  on 
this  solemn  and  interesting  occasion,"  yet  from  its  subject 
and  purpose  it  was  calculated  to  engage  the  mind. 
Why  have  not  we ;  why  have  not  all  people  such  a  festival 
in  the  year  ?  It  has  grown  out  of  the  necessities  of  the 
nobler  popular  heart ;  it  is  the  ascribing  of  our  highest 
earthly  blessings  to  their  heavenly  Giver.  We  have 
many  publicly  appointed  days  for  prayer,  but  none  for 
thanksgiving :  it  is  not  right  and  noble.  ' 

I  have  inquired  from  many  persons  here  the  origin  of  this 

festival  in  America  ;  but  it  is  remarkable  how  little  people 

i  2 


116  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

are  able  to  throw  light  upon  its  historical  commencement. 
They  know  merely  that  it  arose  in  the  "  earliest  times  of 
the  pilgrim -fathers  in  America,"  and  that  it  has  since 
established  itself  in  the  church  as  the  expression  of  the 
higher  popular  feeling.  I  have,  nevertheless,  heard  it 
said — and  it  does  not  seem  to  me  improbable — that  it 
arose  at  the  commencement  of  the  colony,  when,  at  a  time 
of  great  scarcity,  and  in  the  prospect  of  approaching 
famine,  five  ships  laden  with  wheat  arrived  from  England ; 
that  therefore  it  was  for  a  long  time  the  custom  in 
Massachussets  to  lay,  at  this  festival,  five  grains  of  corn 
upon  the  dinner-plate  of  each  guest,  which  custom  is 
retained  to  this  day  in  certain  of  the  parts  of  the  State. 

The  weather  was  splendid,  but  cold,  as  after  church 
we  walked  through  the  rural  city,  with  its  small  houses 
and  gardens,  and  saw  the  well-dressed  inhabitants  return 
ing  home  from  church.  Everything  testified  of  order  and 
of  easy  circumstances  without  show  and  luxury.  We 
dined  in  a  large  company,  the  dinner  being  at  once  abun 
dant  yet  frugal,  at  the  house  of  one  of  Marcus  S.'s  relations. 
We  spent  the  evening  with  his  sister  and  her  family,  who 
own  and  cultivate  a  large  farm  near  Uxbridge,  the  mother 
of  our  doctor's  little  wife  ;  and  here  all  the  relations  were 
assembled.  The  mistress  of  the  house,  a  quiet,  agreeable, 
motherly  woman,  "  lady -like  "  in  her  manners,  as  was  her 
sister  at  the  Phalanstery,  and  that  from  nobility  and 
refinement  of  soul,  pleased  me  extremely,  as  did  all  the 
simple  cordial  people  of  this  neighbourhood ;  they  were 
much  more  hearty,  and  much  less  given  to  asking 
questions  than  the  people  I  had  met  with  in  the  great 
city  parties.  We  had  a  great  supper  with  the  two  indis 
pensable  Thanksgiving- day  dishes,  roast  turkey  and 
pumpkin  pudding.  It  is  asserted  that  the  turkeys  in 
the  states  of  New  England  always  look  dejected  as  the 
time  of  Thanksgiving  approaches,  because  then  there  is  a 
great  slaughter  among  them.  The  clergyman  who  had 


HOMES  OP  THE  NEW  WORLD.  117 

preached  in  the  morning  asked  a  blessing,  which  would 
have  appeared  too  long  had  it  not  been  for  its  excellence. 

After  supper  the  young  people  danced.  I  taught  them 
the  Swedish  dance  called  "  Vafva  Wallmar,"  and  played 
the  music  for  them,  which  excited  general  applause. 
Towards  midnight  we  returned  to  our  little  home,  Marcus 
and  Eebecca  occupying  my  former  cold  chamber,  and  a 
bed  being  made  up  for  me  in  the  pretty  parlour,  where  I 
had  a  bright  coal  fire  and  a  letter  from  the  Downings, 
which  made  me  still  warmer  than  the  fire — it  was  almost 
too  many  good  things  !  Marcus  and  Rebecca  said  that 
they  liked  a  cold  sleeping-room,  and  that  they  were 
accustomed  to  it ;  and  it  may  be  so ;  but  yet  it  was 
very  kind !  In  the  morning  my  little  hostess  brought  me 
a  cup  of  coffee,  which  she  herself  had  made,  and  waited 
upon  me  in  the  most  sweet  and  kind  manner.  I  was 
thankful,  but  rather  ashamed ;  nor  would  I  have  permitted 
it  had  I  been  younger  and  stronger  than  I  am. 

Bergfalk  had  also  suffered  much  from  the  cold,  although 
lodged  in  excellent  quarters  with  Marcus's  sister. 

Friday  forenoon  we  drove  to  Hopedale  Community,  a 
little  Socialist  settlement  a  few  miles  from  Uxbridge, 
where  also  my  friends  have  relatives  and  acquaintance. 
The  day  was  mild  and  the  air  soft,  and  the  drive  through 
the  yet  verdant  meadows  agreeable.  One  of  Marcus's 
nephews  drove  us. 

Hopedale  Community  is  a  small  settlement  altogether 
founded  upon  Christian  principles,  and  with  a  patriarchal 
basis.  The  patriarch  and  head  of  the  establishment, 
Adin  Ballou,  a  handsome  old  gentleman,  received  us, 
surrounded  by  a  numerous  family.  Each  family  has  here 
its  separate  house  and  garden.  The  greater  number  of 
the  people  are  handicraftsmen  and  agriculturists.  Here 
also  were  we  received  with  songs  of  welcome  and  flowers. 
Here  also  I  remarked  in  the  young  people  a  singularly 
joyous  and  fresh  life,  and  it  was  delightful  to  see  the 


118  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

happy  groups  passing  to  and  fro  in  the  sunshine  from 
one  comfortable  home  to  another.  The  church  of  the 
little  community,  as  well  as  its  schoolhouse,  struck  me  as 
remarkably  unchurchlike.  Various  moral  aphorisms,  such 
as  "Hope  on,  hope  ever;"  "  Try  again,"  and  such  like, 
might  be  read  upon  the  naked  walls.  For  the  rest  it  was 
evident  that  the  poetic  element  had  much  more  vitality 
here  than  among  the  community  of  New  Jersey.  The 
moral  element  constituted  nevertheless  the  kernel  even 
here,  the  poetic  was  merely  an  addition — the  sugar  in  the 
moral  cake. 

We  dined  in  an  excellent  little  home.  They  asked  no 
questions  of  the  guests,  merely  entertained  them  well  and 
kindly.  A  negro  and  his  wife  came  hither  wishing  to  be 
received  as  members  of  the  community.  Hopedale  Com 
munity  would  suit  me  better  than  the  North  American 
Phalanstery,  partly  from  the  separate  dwellings,  and 
partly  from  the  recognition  of  the  Christian  faith,  as 
well  as  for  the  sake  of  the  patriarch,  who  has  the  appear 
ance  of  a  man  in  whom  one  might  place  the  most  heart 
felt  confidence.  The  little  community  has  been  in 
existence  about  seven  years,  and  consists  of  about  thirty 
families,  comprising  in  all  one  hundred  and  seventy 
souls.  Every  member  pledges  himself  to  "  the  Christian 
faith,  non-resistance,  and  temperance."  Adin  Ballou 
has  published  a  work  on  the  right  understanding  of  these 
subjects,  which  he  gave  me. 

Taking  one  thing  with  another,  it  seemed  to  me  as  if 
life  in  this  home,  and  in  this  community,  was  deficient  in 
gaiety,  had  but  few  enjoyments  for  the  intellect,  or  the 
sense  of  the  beautiful ;  but  it  was  at  the  same  time  most 
truly  estimable,  earnest,  God-fearing,  industrious, — upon 
the  whole,  an  excellent  foundation  for  a  strong  popular 
life.  From  these  small  homes  must  proceed  earnest  men 
and  women,  people  who  take  life  seriously,  and  have 
early  learnt  to  labour  and  to  pray.  Hopedale  Community 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD.  119 

simply  describes  its  object  to  be,  "  a  beginning  upon  a 
small  scale  of  those  industrial  armies  which  shall  go  forth 
to  subdue,  to  render  fruitful  and  to  beautify  the  barren 
fields  of  the  earth,  and  to  make  of  them  worthy  dwelling- 
places  for  practical  Christian  communities,  and  the  wider 
extension  of  general  improvement  for  the  best  interests 
of  mankind."  Practical  Christianity  is  the  watchword  of 
these  peaceful  conquerors.  "  Blessed  are  the  peace 
makers,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

I  shall  for  the  present  write  no  more  about  my  cam 
paign  :  although  often  amused  and  interested,  I  wonder 
continually  whether  I  shall  ever  again  have  any  rest; 
there  seems  no  prospect  of  it,  however.  The  cold  is  now 
also  come  here,  and  it  is  a  hard  master  to  strive  against. 
To-day  it  is  a  regular  tempest. — I  wonder  how  it  is  with 
you,  my  darling,  and  whether  you  find  yourself  warm  and 
comfortable  in  our  quiet  home  in  Stockholm.  May  you 
be  so,  my  beloved  Agatha,  and  may  the  winter  not  be  too 
severe  for  you ! 

BOSTON,  December  2nd. 

Here  I  am  now,  my  dear  child,  in  the  midst  of  severe 
cold,  but  in  a  warm  and  handsome  room  in  Eevere  House, 
with  a  glowing  fire  to  bear  me  company.  Here  I  am 
installed  by  Marcus  and  Rebecca,  who  merely  exhorted 
me  to  be  comfortable  and  not  to  want  for  anything. 

In  the  forenoon  I  went  with  them  to  church,  and  heard 
a  singular  kind  of  sermon  from  Theodore  Parker,  a 
man  of  powerful  character,  and  richly  gifted  as  a  speaker, 
who,  with  a  strong  and  fearless  spirit,  applies  the  morality 
of  Christianity  to  the  political  and  social  questions  of  the 
day  and  the  country.  He  has  a  Socratic  head,  large 
well-formed  hands,  and  his  whole  being,  expression, 
gestures,  struck  me  as  purely  original — the  expression  of 
a  determined  and  powerful  nature. 

I  shall  go  in  the  evening  to  a  Socialist  meeting ;  that 


120  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

is  to  say,  if  I  do  not  prefer  remaining  in  my  own  room 
and  enjoying  an  evening's  peace  ;  and  if  I  had  requested 
this  of  my  friends,  I  should  have  done  so.  But  I  allow 
myself  to  be  borne  along  with  the  stream  as  long  as  I  am 
able. 

In  the  morning  we  go  to  Emerson's,  who  lives  in  a 
little  city  called  Concord,  at  about  an  hour's  distance  by 
railway  from  Boston ;  and  the  next  day,  or  the  day 
following  that,  I  go  to  the  Lowells  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  a  few  miles  from  this  place,  where  I  remain 
some  days,  and  where  I  shall  more  exactly  determine  my 
stay  in  Boston.  I  have  had  various  invitations  to  different 
families,  but  as  yet  have  not  accepted  any.  It  will  be  a 
painful  thing  to  me  to  part  from  these  excellent  people, 
Marcus  and  Rebecca.  They  belong  to  the  best  kind  of 
people,  and  are  infinitely  agreeable  to  live  with. 

My  dear  Agatha !  I  write  very  imperfectly  to  you 
about  both  things  and  people  here  ;  but  neither  things 
nor  people  here  allow  me  any  time  in  which  to  write 
about  them.  So  much  the  more,  however,  shall  we  have  to 
talk  about,  and  so  much  the  more  shall  I  some  time  have 
to  write  about ;  for  people  and  circumstances  affect  me 
powerfully,  and  in  a  manner  which  astonishes  and 
excites  me  greatly.  I  feel  every  day  how  altogether 
necessary  for  my  whole  life,  and  for  the  development 
of  my  moral  and  intellectual  being,  is  this  American 
journey. 

Tuesday,  December,  &th. — Just  returned  from  my  little 

journey  with  the   S s  and  Bergfalk  to  Concord,  the 

oldest  town  in  Massachussets,  and  the  residence  of  Waldo 
Emerson.  We  drove  there,  and  arrived  in  the  midst  of  a 
regular  snow-storm.  But  the  railway  carriages  are  well 
warmed,  and  one  sits  there  in  beautiful  ease  and  comfort, 
excepting  that  one  gets  well  shook,  for  the  railroads  here 
are  much  more  uneven  than  those  on  which  I  have 
travelled  in  Europe. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  121 

Emerson  came  to  meet  us,  walking  down  the  little 
avenue  of  spruce  firs  which  leads  from  his  house,  bare 
headed  amid  the  falling  snow.  He  is  a  quiet  nobly  grave 
figure,  his  complexion  pale,  with  strongly  marked  features 
and  dark  hair.  He  seemed  to  me  a  younger  man,  but 
not  so  handsome  as  I  had  imagined  him ;  his  exterior 
less  fascinating,  but  more  significant.  He  occupied  himself 
with  us  however,  and  with  me  in  particular,  as  a  lady  and 
a  foreigner,  kindly  and  agreeably.  He  is  a  very  peculiar 
character,  but  too  cold  and  hypercritical  to  please  me 
entirely ;  a  strong,  clear,  eye,  always  looking  out  for  an 
ideal  which  he  never  finds  realised  on  earth ;  discovering 
wants,  short-comings,  imperfections :  and  too  strong  and 
healthy  himself  to  understand  other  people's  weaknesses 
and  sufferings,  for  he  even  despises  suffering  as  a  weakness 
unworthy  of  higher  natures.  This  singularity  of  character 
leads  one  to  supp'ose  that  he  has  never  been  ill :  sorrows 
however  he  has  had,  and  has  felt  them  deeply,  as  some  of 
his  most  beautiful  poems  prove  ;  nevertheless,  he  has  only 
allowed  himself  to  be  bowed  for  a  short  time  by  these 
griefs ;  the  deaths  of  two  beautiful  and  beloved  brothers, 
as  well  as  that  of  a  beautiful  little  boy,  his  eldest  son. 
He  has  also  lost  his  first  wife  after  having  been  married 
scarcely  a  year. 

Emerson  is  now  married  for  the  second  time,  and  has 
three  children.  His  pretty  little  boy,  the  youngest  of  his 
children,  seems  to  be,  in  particular,  dear  to  him.  Mrs. 
Emerson  has  beautiful  eyes,  full  of  feeling,  but  she  appears 
delicate,  and  is  in  character  very  different  to  her  husband. 
He  interested  me,  without  warming  me.  That  critical, 
crystalline  and  cold  nature  may  be  very  estimable,  quite 
healthy,  and,  in  its  way,  beneficial  for  those  who  possess  it, 
and  also  for  others,  who  allow  themselves  to  be  measured 
and  criticised  by  it.  But — for  me — David's  heart  with 
David's  songs  ! 

I  shall  return  to  this  home  in  consequence  of  a  very 


122  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

kind  invitation  to  do  so  from  Emerson  and  his  wife,  and 
in  order  that  I  may  see  more  of  this  sphinx-like  indi 
vidual. 

From  the  worshipper  of  nature,  Emerson, — who  does  not 
belong  to  any  church,  and  who  will  not  permit  his  children 
to  be  baptised,  because  he  considers  the  nature  of  a  child 
purer  than  is  commonly  that  of  a  full-grown  sinful  man ; — 
we  went  to  sleep  at  the  house  of  a  stern  old  Puritan, 
where  we  had  long  prayers,  kneeling  with  our  faces  to  the 
wall.  Elizabeth  H.,  the  only  daughter  of  the  family,  is 
still  beautiful,  although  no  longer  young,  and  a  very  noble 
and  agreeable  woman.  She  was  engaged  to  be  married  to 
Emerson's  best  beloved  brother,  and,  after  his  death, 
declined  all  other  matrimonial  offers.  She  is  evidently  a 
noble  creature,  gifted  with  fine  and  estimable  qualities, 
and  her  friendship  for  Waldo  Emerson  seems  to  me 
something  very  pure  and  perfect.  I  "also  hope  to  see 
her  again  in  the  course  of  the  winter. 

It  looked  like  a  true  Swedish  winter  morning,  in 
the  pretty  little  Idylian  city  of  Concord.  Miss  H. 
went  out  with  me,  and  we  visited  the  monument  erected 
over  the  first  victim  who  fell  in  the  American  War  of 
Independence,  for  here  he  fell  when  the  first  bloody 
contest  occurred.  It  was  now  nearly  snowed  up,  and  ice 
and  snow  covered  also  the  little  river  which  beautifies  the 
city,  and  which  was  called  by  the  Indians,  Musketaquid, 
"the  Grassy  Kiver."  Emerson  has  given  that  name  to 
one  of  the  freshest  and  sweetest  of  his  poems.  Wandering 
in  that  pure  winter  atmosphere,  beneath  trees  covered  with 
glittering  snow,  and  by  the  side  of  Elizabeth  H.,  whose 
atmosphere  is  to  me  as  inspiriting  as  the  pure  sunny  air, 
made  rne  cheerful — both  soul  and  body.  On  we  rambled, 
we  met  Bergfalk,  who  came  quite  warm  in  heart  and 
joyful  from  a  ladies'  school  in  the  city,  where  he  had 
heard  the  young  girls  solve  mathematical  problems,  which 
he  had  been  requested  to  give  them, — and  solve  them  easily 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  123 

and  well  too.  He  was  quite  charmed  with  the  young 
girls  and  their  teacher,  a  lady  in  the  highest  degree 
gentlewornan-like,  as  he  described  her.  Bergfalk  had 
made  a  little  speech  to  express  his  pleasure,  and  the 
estimable  and  agreeable  clergyman  who  had  accompanied 
Bergfalk  was  no  less  warm  in  his  praise,  declaring  that 
every  girls'  school  would  be  delighted  in  the  highest  degree 
with  "  the  Professor,"  as  he  was  called  here,  and  every 
where  during  our  journey,  for  people  scarcely  attempted 
to  pronounce  his  name,  as  if  they  considered  it  quite 
impossible. 

I  visited  also  several  of  those  small  homes,  which  are 
very  comfortable,  although  the  family  waits  upon  itself, 
and  does  all  the  business  of  the  house  without  a  servant. 
This  is  a  thing  to  be  esteemed,  but  not  to  be  loved,  and 
I  am  not  comfortable  with  it. 

We  left  Concord  in  the  afternoon  without  having  again 
seen  Emerson. 

As  to  the  Socialist  meeting  this  evening,  I  must  tell  you 
that  I  saw  there  a  great  number  of  respectable -looking 
people,  and  heard  theories  for  the  future,  as  to  how 
human  beings — instead  of  going  to  heaven,  as  now,  by  the 
thorny  path, — will  wander  thither  on  roses,  and  more  of  the 
same  kind.  I  heard  also  various  beautiful  plans  for  the 
accomplishing  of  this,  but  they  all  were  remarkable  for 
their  want  of  basis  in  possibility  and  in  human  nature, 
such  as  it  really  is.  In  general  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
Socialists  fail  by  not  taking  into  consideration  the 
dualism  of  human  nature.  They  do  not  see  the  evil,  and 
they  believe  that  everything  can  become  right  in  this  world 
by  outward  institutions.  I  have  during  their  discussions 
a  feeling  of  wandering  among  the  clouds,  or  of  being 
lost  in  a  great  wood.  The  humane  side  of  their  theories, 
of  their  endeavours  for  the  best  interests  of  humanity, 
cannot  be  doubted. 

The  Swedish  consul  in  Boston,  Mr.  Benzon,  who  was 


124  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

with  us,  made  me,  through  Rebecca,  an  offer  of  his  house, 
as  my  home  during  the  winter,  which  was  agreeable  to  me, 
although  I  do  not  know  whether  I  shall  be  able  to 
accept  it.  But  I  have  received  many  kind  and  beautiful 
invitations. 

And  now,  my  dear  heart,  I  must  tell  you  that  I  am 
losing  all  patience  with  the  incessant  knocking  at  my  door, 
and  with  visiting  cards  and  letters,  and  am  quite  annoyed 
at  being  continually  obliged  to  say  "  come  in,"  when  I 
would  say  "  go  away  !  "  Ah  !  ah  !  I  am  quite  fatigued  by 
the  welcome  here,  which  will  not  leave  me  at  peace  !  I 
have  in  the  meantime  not  yet  received  any  one,  but 
say  I  shall  be  at  home  in  the  evening. 

In  the  morning  I  leave  for  Cambridge.  A  horrible 
murder  has  just  been  committed  here  by  one  professor  on 
another,  and  the  whole  university  and  city  are  in  a  state 
of  excitement  about  it.  It  is  an  unheard-of  occurrence, 
and  as  the  accused  has  many  acquaintance  and  friends, 
and  has  been  known  as  a  good  husband,  and  in  particular 
as  a  good  father,  many  maintain  his  innocence.  He  is  in 
the  meantime  conveyed  to  prison.  People  talk  now  about 
scarcely  anything  else. 

I  must  yet  add  that  I  am  perfectly  well  amid  all  my 
vagaries,  and  shall  so  manage  during  my  stay  in  Boston 
as  to  have  more  repose.  I  shall  have  one  or  two  reception- 
days  during  the  week,  and  arrange  so  that  I  may  have 
time  for  myself;  I  know  that  I  require  it.  Bergfalk 
is  well  and  lively,  and  liked  by  every  one  :  and  he  sends 
cordial  greetings  to  mamma  and  to  you.  Greet  cordially 
from  me  Hagbeg,  Maria,  and  Christine,  our  servants  and 
friends. 

P.  S. — I  must  yet  tell  you  that  I  am  not  sure  that  I 
have  judged  rightly  of  Emerson.  I  confess  that  I  was  a 
little  staggered  by  the  depreciating  manner  in  which  he 
expressed  himself  about  things  and  persons  whom  I 
admired.  I  am  not  certain  whether  a  steadfastness  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  125 

pride  so  little  akin  to  my  own  did  not  tempt  me  to  act  the 
fox  and  the  grapes.  Certain  it  is  that  Emerson's 
behaviour  and  manner  made  upon  me  an  impression 
unlike  that  which  other  haughty  natures  produce,  and 
which  it  is  easy  for  me  to  condemn  as  such,  or  as  such 
to  despise.  Not  so  with  Emerson,  he  ought  not  to  be 
acquitted  so  easily ;  he  may  be  unjust  or  unreasonable, 
but  it  certainly  is  not  from  selfish  motives :  there  is  a 
higher  nature  in  this  man  ;  and  I  must  see  more  of  him, 
and  understand  him  better.  For  the  rest,  this  acquaint 
ance  may  end  as  it  will,  I  shall  be  calm.  "  If  we 
are  kindred,  we  shall  meet !  "  and  if  not — the  time 
is  long  since  past  when  I  wished  very  much  to  please 
men.  I  have  passed  through  the  desert  of  life ;  I 
have  by  my  own  efforts  fought,  through  much  difficulty, 
my  way  up  to  that  Horeb  from  whose  summit  I  behold 
the  promised  land;  and  this  long  suffering  and  this 
great  joy  have  made  for  all  time,  the  splendid  figures 
of  this  world,  its  crowns,  its  laurels,  and  its  roses,  pale 
before  my  eyes.  I  may  be  fascinated  or  charmed  by  them 
for  a  moment,  but  it  is  soon  over ;  that  which  they  give 
makes  me  no  richer ;  that  which  they  take  away  no 
poorer :  and  many  a  time  can  I  say  to  them  as  Diogenes 
to  Alexander, — "  Go  out  of  my  sunshine  !  "  I  should  not 
even  desire  to  come  to  this  proud  magi,  Waldo  Emerson, 
and  to  see  the  stars  in  his  heaven,  if  I  had  not  my  own 
heaven  and  stars,  and  sun,  the  glory  of  which  he  can 
scarcely  understand. 


126  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


LETTEK  VII. 

HA  YARD  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE,  Dec.  15th. 

I  CAN  now,  my  beloved  child,  have  a  little  talk  with 
you  in  peace.  By  this  time  mamma  and  you  must  know 
of  my  arrival  in  this  country — of  my  first  experience  in 
it,  and  how  well  all  goes  on  with  me :  but  I  again  have 
such  a  craving  for  letters  from  home,  and  am  so  grieved 
to  have  had  but  one  since  I  came  hither,  and  to  have  no 
knowledge  of  how  you  have  recovered  from  your  illness, 
and  how  mamma  is,  and  all  the  rest  at  home. — I  must 
however,  soon  hear,  and  God  grant  that  all  may  be  well. 

I  wrote  lately  to  you  from  Boston  :    I  remained  there 

several    days   with   my  friends,    the    S s,    amid   an 

incessant  shower  both  of  visits  and  engagements,  which 
sometimes  amused  me,  and  sometimes  drove  me  half  to 
desperation,  and  left  me  scarcely  time  to  breathe.  A  few 
of  these  days  and  hours  I  shall  always  remember  with 
pleasure.  Among  the  foremost  of  these,  is  a  morning 
when  I  saw  around  me  the  most  noble  men  of  Massachus- 
sets;  Alcott,  the  Platonic  idealist,  with  a  remarkably 
beautiful  silver-haired  head ;  the  brothers  Clarke ;  the 
philanthropist,  Mr.  Barnard ;  the  poet,  Longfellow ;  the 
young,  true  American  poet,  Lowell  (a  perfect  Apollo  in 
appearance),  and  many  others.  Emerson  came  also  with 
a  sunbeam  in  his  strong  countenance, — and  people  more 
beautiful — more  perfect  in  form  (almost  all  tall  and  well- 
proportioned)  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find. 

Another  forenoon  I  saw  the  distinguished  lawyer, 
Wendel  Phillips,  and  Charles  Suinner,  a  young  giant  in 
person  ;  Garrison,  one  of  the  principal  champions  of  the 
Abolitionist  cause,  and  who,  therefore,  at  a  time  of  excite 
ment,  was  dragged  by  the  mob  through  the  streets — of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  127 

Boston,  I  believe — with  a  halter  round  his  neck  as  a 
malefactor.  One  sees  in  his  beautiful  countenance  and 
clear,  eagle -eye,  that  resolute  spirit  which  makes  the 
martyr.  Speaking  with  him,  I  told  him  candidly  that 
I  thought  the  extravagance  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Abolitionists,  their  want  of  moderation,  and  the  violent 
tone  of  their  attacks  could  not  benefit,  but  rather  must 
damage  their  cause.  He  replied,  with  good  temper,  "We 
must  demand  the  whole  loaf  if  we  would  hope  to  get 
one  half  of  it !  " 

He  expressed  himself  mildly  regarding  the  Southern 
slave-holders,  said  that  he  valued  many  of  them  person 
ally,  but  that  he  hated  slavery,  and  would  continue  to 
combat  with  it  as  with  the  greatest  enemy  of  America. 
And  a  man  who  had  endured  the  maltreatment  of  a  mob 
— who  had  borne  the  halter,  and  disgrace,  and  has 
still  stood  firmly  as  before,  combating  fearlessly  as 
before ;  the  resolution  and  character  of  such  a  man 
deserve  esteem.  This  gentleman  brought  to  us  two 
lately- escaped  slaves,  William  and  Ellen  Kraft.  She  was 
almost  white  ;  her  countenance  which  was  rather  sallow, 
had  the  features  of  the  white,  and  though  not  handsome, 
a  very  intelligent  expression.  They  had  escaped  by 
means  of  her  being  dressed  as  a  man ;  he  acting  as  her 
servant.  In  order  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  signing  her 
name  in  the  travellers'  books,  for  she  could  not  write,  she 
carried  her  right  arm  in  a  sling,  under  the  plea  of  having 
injured  it.  Thus  they  had  succeeded  in  travelling  by 
railway  from  the  south  to  the  free  States  of  the  north. 
They  appeared  to  be  sincerely  happy. 

"  Why  did  you  escape  from  your  masters  ?  "  I  asked, 
— "  did  they  treat  you  with  severity  ?  " 

*'  No,"  replied  she  ;  "  they  alwa}rs  treated  me  well ;  but  I 
fled  from  them  because  they  would  not  give  me  my  rights 
as  a  human  being.  I  could  never  learn  anything,  neither 
to  read  nor  to  write." 


128  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  remarked  in  her  the  desire  for  learning  peculiar  to 
the  white  race. 

"  How  is  it,"  said  some  one  in  company  to  the  negro, 
"  that  the  assertions  of  the  anti-slavery  party  regarding 
the  treatment  of  the  slaves,  that  they  are  often  flogged 
and  severely  beaten,  are  declared  to  be  false  ?  Travellers 
come  to  the  north  who  have  long  resided  among  the 
plantations  of  the  south,  and  have  never  seen  anything 
of  the  kind." 

William  smiled,  and  said  with  a  keen  expression ; 
"Nor are  children  whipped  in  the  presence  of  strangers; 
this  is  done  when  they  do  not  see." 

Neither  of  these  escaped  slaves  complained  of  their 
masters.  And  though  like  every  other  thinking  Christian, 
I  must  condemn  slavery  as  a  system  and  institution,  I  wait 
to  pass  judgment  on  American  slave-holders  and  slavery  in 
America — until — I  have  seen  it  nearer.  I  am,  from  ex 
perience,  suspicious  of  party- spirit  and  its  blindness,  and 
whenever  I  see  this  in  activity  I  cannot  accede  to  it,  but 
on  the  contrary  feel  myself  inclined  to  opposition.  I  will, 
at  all  events,  see  and  hear  for  and  against  the  question 
before  I  join  either  party.  Justice  and  moderation  before 
everything  ! 

I  was  two  evenings  at  the  theatre,  and  saw  Miss 
Charlotte  Cushman — the  principal  actress  in  the  United 
States — in  two  characters,  in  which  she  produced  a  great 
effect,  both  here  and  in  England,  namely,  Meg  Merrilies 
and  Lady  Macbeth.  Miss  Cushman,  immediately  on  my 
arrival  in  New  York,  had  written  very  kindly  to  me, 
offering  to  be  any  use  to  me  in  her  power.  Here,  in 
Boston,  she  placed  a  box  at  the  theatre  at  my  service, 
which  was  very  agreeable  to  me,  as  I  could  thus  invite  my 
friends  to  accompany  me.  Miss  Cushman  is  a  powerful 
actress ;  she  possesses  great  energy,  but  is  deficient  in 
feminine  grace,  and  wants  more  colour  in  her  acting, 
especially  of  the  softer  tone.  This  has  reference  princi- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  129 

pally  to  her  Meg  Merrilies,  which  is  a  fearful  creation. 
Miss  Cushman  has  represented  in  her  merely  the  witch, 
merely  the  horrible  in  nature.  But  even  the  most  horrible 
nature  has  moments  and  traits  of  beauty ;  it  has  sun, 
repose,  dew,  and  the  song  of  birds.  Her  Meg  Merrilies 
is  a  wild  rock  in  the  sea,  around  which  tempests  are 
incessantly  roaring,  and  which  unceasingly  contend  with 
clouds  and  waves.  She  was  also  too  hard  and  masculine 
for  Lady  Macbeth.  It  was  merely  in  the  night  scene  that 
her  acting  struck  me  as  beautiful,  and  that  deploring  cry 
so  full  of  anguish  which  she  utters  when  she  cannot  wash 
the  blood  from  her  hands,  that — I  feel  I  shall  never  forget. 

It  thrilled  through  my  whole  being,  and 1  can  still 

hear  it ;  I  can  hear  it  in  gloomy  moments  and  scenes. 

I  like  Miss  Cushman  personally  very  much.  One  sees  evi 
dently  in  her  an  honest,  earnest,  and  powerful  soul,  which 
regards  life  and  her  vocation  with  a  noble  earnestness.  She 
has,  through  great  difficulties,  made  her  own  way  to  the  posi 
tion  which,  by  universal  recognition  and  with  universal 
esteem,  she  now  occupies.  She  belongs  to  an  old  Puritanic 
family,  and  after  her  father's  misfortunes,  she  supported  by 
her  talent  for  some  years  her  mother  and  her  younger  sis 
ter.  She  looks  almost  better  in  private  than  on  the  stage ; 
the  frank  blue  eye,  the  strong,  clever  forehead,  and  the 
honest,  sensible  expression  of  her  whole  demeanour  and 
conversation  make  one  like  to  be  with  her. 

I  experienced  much  kindness  and  warm  goodwill  in 
Boston,  of  which  I  cannot  now  speak.  Ah  !  there  is  no 
want  of  warm-heartedness  here,  my  little  Agatha,  and  the 
youthful  spirit  of  the  people  makes  it  very  perceptible. 
But  the  misfortune  is,  that  I  am  but  one  against 
many ;  and  that  I  have  not  the  strength  nor  the  disposi 
tion  to  struggle  with  .and  against  that  kindness  which 
I  feel  to  be  so  beautiful  and  so  genial  to  n^ 
heart.  The  only  quiet  hours  which  I  had  in  Boston 
'were  when  I  was  driving  along  the  streets  in  a  carriage  to 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

visit  institutions  or  to  pay  visits :  these  days  were  also 
agreeable  from  many  things  in  themselves,  and  from 

intercourse  with  my  friends,  the  estimable  S s ;  they 

too  enjoyed  them  and  were  gay.  Agreeable  things 
occurred,  and  agreeable  people  came  daily  and  hourly, 
with  fresh  plans  for  fresh  pleasures,  and  from  day  to  day 
was  deferred  their  return  to  New  York  and  my  separation 
from  them.  My  little  female  physician,  Miss  H.,  had 
a  chase  after  me  every  day,  to  catch  me  and  take  me 
home  with  her.  The  Lowells  came  to  fetch  me  to  Cam 
bridge,  but  we,  my  friends  and  myself,  were  grown  reckless, 
setting  at  nought  all  principles  of  ordinary  promise - 
keeping  and  propriety,  and  had,  just  out  of  merriment 
and  a  little  innocent  foolhardiness,  determined  to  per 
severe  in  our  unprincipled  conduct,  and  still  remain 
together  a  few  days  longer  in  Boston  under  our  pleasant 
devil-may-care  system,  when  two  telegraphic  despatches 
came  one  after  the  other,  first  to  Marcus,  then  to  Rebecca, 
containing  the  words,  "  your  baby  is  very  sick." 

With  this  was  an  end  to  all  "  frolic."  Rebecca,  bathed 
in  tears  of  anguish,  Marcus  with  trouble  in  his  good 
countenance,  immediately  got  everything  ready  for  their 
departure,  so  that  they  might  set  off  by  railway  a  few 
hours  afterwards,  and  early  the  following  morning  reach 
their  home,  where  Rebecca  expected  to  find  her  little  boy 
dead. 

At  the  same  time  that  they  left  I  was  to  take  up  my 
quarters  at  the  house  of  the  Swedish  consul,  Benzon.  I 
could  not  part  with  them  without  shedding  tears  ;  I  had 
been  so  happy  with  them.  They  are  such  excellent 
people,  and  I  was  now  so  sorry  for  them,  although  it 
was  impossible  for  any  one  to  bear  a  sorrow  more 
beautifully  than  they  did  this.  And  besides,  they  had 
been  so  inexpressibly  kind  to  me  !  I  cannot  describe  it 
in  a  letter  ;  and  neither  can  I  think  of  it  without  emotion. 
To  the  last  I  had  to  strive  with  them,  but  in  vain,  that  I 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  131 

might  be  allowed  to  pay  my  expenses  in  Boston.  They 
maintained  that  I  was  their  guest,  and  thus  I  paid  not 
the  slightest  sum  for  my  expensive  and  splendid  living 
at  the  Revere  House  for  three  several  days.  And  their 
manner  of  doing  me  this  kindness,  as  "  an  honour  and 
a  pleasure  to  themselves ;" — nay,  my  Agatha,  I  have 
never  seen  its  equal  before  ! 

I  took  it  almost  as  a  certainty  that  my  friends  would 
find  their  little  boy — "the  baby" — dead;  so  violent  had 
been  the  convulsions,  into  which  he  had  been  thrown,  for 
he  was  teething :  and  Rebecca  expected  to  hear  at  the 
door  of  her  home  the  words,  "  He  is  not  here  !  he  has 
arisen !  " 

The  day  after  their  arrival,  however,  came  to  me  a 
telegraphic  message,  with  the  words,  "  Dear  Friend ! 
Rejoice  with  us.  Baby  better.  Danger  nearly  over. 

"  MARCUS." 

What  heartfelt  pleasure  this  afforded  me  ! 

In  the  evening  I  went  with  Benzon  and  Bergfalk, 
together  with  a  young  Mr.  K.,  an  agreeable  and  witty 

man,  a  friend  of  the  S s,  to  a  concert  given  by  the 

"Musical  Fund  Society,"  and  was  admitted  by  a  free 
ticket,  which  would  admit  myself  and  my  friends  during 
the  whole  of  the  winter.  And  there  I  heard  Beethoven's 
Fourth  Symphony  excellently  performed  by  a  numerous 
orchestra.  The  second  adagio  in  this  seized  upon  me  with 
extraordinary  power.  Ah  !  who  taught  this  man  thus  to 
understand  the  inmost  life  of  the  heart,  its  strivings 
upwards,  its  depressions  and  re-ascendings,  its  final 
conflict,  resolute  endeavour,  and  ultimate  victory  ?  No 
instrumental  music  makes  upon  me  a  more  profound 
impression  than  this  glorious  adagio.  Its  tones  were  to 
me  like  the  history  of  my  own  soul. 

On  Sunday  I  again  heard  Theodore  Parker  preach. 
He  made  a  full  and  free  confession  of  his  faith,  and  I 

K2 


132  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

was  rejoiced  to  see  his  honesty  and  courage,  although 
I  could  not  rejoice  at  the  confession  of  faith  in  itself, 
which  was  a  very  imperfect  recognition  of  the  Christian 
revelation,  and  which  acknowledged  in  Christ  merely  a 
human  and  moral  teacher,  although  as  such  the  model 
and  the  ideal  of  humanity.  Parker  belongs  to  the 
Unitarian  body ;  and  to  that  section  of  it  which  denies 
miracles,  and  everything  that  requires  supernatural  agency 
in  the  sacred  history.  That  which  really  displeased  me 
was,  that  Parker  asserted  that  he  regarded  Christ  as 
standing  in  no  other  relationship  to  God  than  did  all 
mankind ;  and  that  he  merely  was  mentioned  in  history 
as  "  a  modest  young  man  from  Galilee."  How  can  a 
lover  of  truth  read  the  sacred  history,  and  expressions 
such  as  these,  "  He  who  has  seen  me  has  seen  the 
Father ; "  "  The  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  Him  : "  and 
many  others  of  a  similar  kind,  and  yet  make  such  an 
assertion  ? 

After  the  sermon  some  ladies  who  were  unknown  to 
me,  came  up,  and  accosting  me  with  much  warmth  and 
kindness,  said  they  hoped  that  I  was  pleased ;  that  I  was 
satisfied,  etc.  I  replied  that  I  was  not  wholly  so !  and 
declined  to  be  introduced  to  the  preacher,  as,  according 
to  custom  here,  immediately  after  service  introductions 
take  place  in  the  churches,  and  conversation  is  carried  on, 
which  is  not  only  unpleasant  but  quite  out  of  place. 

In  the  afternoon  Benzon  read  aloud  to  Mr.  K., 
Bergfalk,  and  myself,  an  "Essay  on  the  American  Mind," 
by  a  Mr.  "Whipple ;  it  is  writted  in  a  lively  manner, 
takes  broad  views,  and  is  not  without  marks  of  genius. 
It  has  been  very  much  talked  about,  and  furnished  us 
also  with  matter  for  conversation. 

In  the  evening  I  had  a  visit  from  Theodore  Parker. 
I  am  so  great  a  lover  of  courage  in  all  forms,  and  of  every 
unreserved  expression  of  opinion  and  belief,  that  I  extended 
my  hand  to  Parker,  thanking  him  cordially  for  his  can- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  133 

dour.  But  I  nevertheless  told  him  frankly  my  objections 
to  his  Christology,  and  we  had  a  good  deal  of  quiet 
controversy.  I  found  Parker  extremely  agreeable  to 
converse  with,  willing  to  listen,  gentle,  earnest,  and 
cordial.  I  stated  to  him  also  my  objections  against  the 
Unitarian  point  of  view  in  general,  because  from,  it  many 
of  the  greatest  and  most  important  questions  as  regards 
God,  humanity  and  life,  must  be  left  unsolved,  and  never 
can  be  solved.  Parker  heard  me  with  much  kindness 
and  seriousness,  and  conceded  various  things,  conceded 
among  others  the  reasonableness  of  miracles,  when 
regarded  as  produced  by  a  power  in  nature,  but  not  out 
of  it, — the  law  of  nature  on  a  larger  scale. 

As  I  said  before,  Parker  has  a  Socratic  head ;  he  has 
a  pure  and  strongly  moral  mind ;  he  is  like  Waldo 
Emerson,  captivated  by  the  moral  ideal ;  and  this  he 
places  before  his  hearers  in  words  full  of  a  strong  vitality, 
and  produces  by  them  a  higher  love  for  truth  and  justice 
in  the  human  breast.  Parker,  however,  as  a  theologist  is 
not  powerful ;  nor  can  he  talk  well  upon  the  most  sublime 
and  most  holy  doctrines  of  revelation,  because  he  does  not 
understand  them.  In  his  outbursts  against  the  petrified 
orthodoxy,  and  the  petrified  church,  he  is  often  happy 
and  true.  But  I  think  that  people  may  say  of  him  as 
somebody  said  about  a  greater  man,  Luther,  "  II  a  bien 
critique  mais  pauvrement  doctrine."  Parker,  however, 
investigates  earnestly,  and  speaks  out  his  thoughts 
honestly,  and  that  is  always  a  great  merit.  More  we 
can  hardly  desire  of  a  man.  Beyond  this  he  teaches  to 
be  very  good,  to  do  much  good ;  and  I  believe  that  from 
his  kind  and  beautiful  eyes.  In  short  I  like  the  man. 

The  next  day  Benzon  accompanied  me  to  Cambridge 
to  the  Lowells ;  from  whom,  as  I  have  already  said,  I  had 
received  an  invitation  through  Mr.  Downing,  who  had 
written  to  the  poet  of  the  pleasure  which  his  writings 
had  given  me. 


134  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

There  I  have  now  been  a  week,  and  shall  remain 
yet  a  week  longer;  they  will  have  me  stay,  and  I  am 
quite  willing  to  stay,  because  I  am  well  off  to  my  heart's 
content  in  this  excellent  and  agreeable  home.  The  house, 
and  a  small  quantity  of  land  which  surrounds  it,  belong 
to  the  father  of  the  poet,  old  Dr.  Lowell,  a  handsome  old 
man,  universally  beloved  and  respected,  and  the  oldest 
minister  in  Massachussets.  He  planted  all  the  trees 
round  the  house,  among  which  are  many  beautiful 
northern  pines.  The  whole  family  assembles  every  day 
for  morning  and  evening  prayer  around  the  venerable 
old  man ;  and  he  it  is  who  blesses  every  meal.  His 
prayers,  which  are  always  extempore,  are  full  of  the 
true  and  inward  life,  and  I  felt  them  as  a  pleasant, 
refreshing  dew  upon  my  head,  and  seldom  arose  from  my 
knees  with  dry  eyes.  With  him  live  his  youngest  son, 
the  poet,  and  his  wife;  such  a  handsome  and  happy 
young  couple  as  one  can  hardly  imagine.  He  is  full  of 
life  and  youthful  ardour,  she  as  gentle,  as  delicate  and  as 
fair  as  a  lily,  and  one  of  the  most  love  able  women  that  I 
have  seen  in  this  country,  because  her  beauty  is  full  of 
soul  and  grace,  as  is  everything  which  she  does  or  says. 
This  young  couple  belong  to  the  class  of  those  of  whom 
one  can  be  quite  sure ;  one  could  not  for  an  hour,  nay  not 
for  half  an  hour,  be  doubtful  about  them.  She,  like  him, 
has  a  poetical  tendency,  and  has  also  written  anonymously 
some  poems,  remarkable  for  their  deep  and  tender  feeling, 
especially  maternal,  but  her  mind  has  more  philosophical 
depth  than  his.  Singularly  enough  I  did  not  discern  in 
him  that  deeply  earnest  spirit  which  charmed  me  in  many 
of  his  poems.  He  seems  to  me  occasionally  to  be  bril 
liant,  witty,  gay,  especially  in  the  evening,  when  he  has 
what  he  calls  his  "evening  fever,"  and  his  talk  is  then 
like  an  incessant  play  of  fire-works.  I  find  him  very 
agreeable  and  amiable  :  he  seems  to  have  many  friends, 
mostly  young  men.  Among  his  poems  the  witty  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  135 

satirical  are  the  most  popular ;  as,  for  example,  his 
"  Fable  for  Critics,"  in  which,  in  a  good-humoured  way, 
he  has  made  himself  merry  with  the  poets  and  poetesses 
of  New  England,  only  one  of  whom,  Margaret  Fuller,  is 
severely  handled.  His  satirical,  political,  fugitive  pieces, 
have  been  very  successful.  As  one  of  his  merits  I  reckon 
his  being  so  fascinated  by  his  little  wife,  because  I  am  so 
myself.  There  is  a  trace  of  beauty  and  taste  in  every 
thing  she  touches,  whether  of  mind  or  body ;  and  above 
all,  she  beautifies  life.  Among  other  beautiful  things 
which  she  has  created  around  her  in  her  home,  I  have 
remarked  a  little  basin  full  of  beautiful  stones  and  shells, 
which  she  herself  collected  ;  they  lie  glittering  in  water 
clear  as  crystal,  and  round  them  is  a  border  of  coral. 
Pity  it  is  that  this  much  loved  young  wife  seems  to  have 
delicate  lungs.  Her  low,  weak  voice  tells  of  this.  Two 
lovely  little  girls,  Mabel  and  Kose,  the  latter  yet  at 
the  mother's  breast,  and  an  elder  sister  of  the  poet,  one 
of  the  worthy  and  the  good,  constitute  the  remainder  of 
the  family. 

I  saw  here  some  gentlemen  of  the  University  who 
interested  me;  among  them  Mr.  Everett,  a  man  of 
learning  and  of  rank,  formerly  ambassador  to  the  British 
Court ;  the  natural  historian,  Professor  Agassiz,  who  has 
an  unusually  agreeable  appearance  and  manner  (and 
who  presented  his  betrothed  to  me,  a  tall  blonde  young 
American  lady);  as  well  as  the  astronomer,  Professor 
Holmes,  (I  believe  that  is  his  name)  whose  head  is 
singularly  beautiful,  and  who  brought  with  him  two  hand 
some  daughters.  I  have  also  paid  some  visits. 

The  general  topic  of  conversation  for  the  time  is  the 
murder  of  Professor  Parkman  by  Mr.  Webster,  the 
Professor  of  Chemistry.  People  talk  for  and  against. 
One  friend  of  the  accused,  a  lawyer  of  high  standing, 
Judge  T.,  says  that  he  is  perfectly  persuaded  of  his 
innocence.  So  also  a  pleasant  and  sensible  woman, 


136  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Mrs.  F.,  who  saw  a  good  deal  of  him,  and  for  the  last 
time  a  few  days  after  the  supposed  murder,  when  he 
spent  an  evening  at  her  house,  played  at  whist,  and  was 
more  cheerful  and  agreeable  than  usual.  Young  Lowell, 
on  the  contrary,  helieves  Webster  to  be  guilty,  from  various 
things  which  he  lately  heard  of  his  character  and  asso 
ciates  as  a  young  man.  He  has  for  a  long  time  lived 
beyond  his  means,  and  the  occasion  of  the  murder  was  a 
small  sum  of  money,  a  few  hundred  dollars  which  he  had 
borrowed  from  Professor  Parkman,  who  let  him  have  no 
peace,  so  urgent  was  he  for  their  repayment.  This 
Parkman  must  have  been  a  very  singular  man.  Eich 
though  he  was,  he  would  literally  persecute  and  torment 
poor  people  to  whom  he  had  lent  money,  until  it  was 
repaid  by  them,  or  they  allowed  him  interest.  Yet  would 
he  the  very  next  day  send  money  to  these  same  people  as 
a  gift,  or  under  some  pretence  or  other,  never  however  as 
from  himself,  but  as  from  some  one  else.  He  wished 
before  men  to  appear  as  an  unsparing  judge. 

In  this  way  he  not  long  since  persecuted  Webster,  until 
the  latter  under  pretence  of  settling  with  him,  decoyed 
him  into  the  chemical  laboratory  in  Boston,  where  he 
made  an  end  of  him,  in  what  manner  is  not  yet  known. 
They  have  merely  found  fragments  of  the  body,  which 
Webster  had  endeavoured  partly  to  burn  and  partly  to 
conceal.  Webster  boldly  denies  the  deed,  but  having 
made  an  attempt  to  poison  himself  in  prison,  the  suspicion 
against  him  is  greatly  increased. 

At  the  end  of  next  week  I  shall  leave  the  Lowells,  and 
remain  for  a  few  days  with  my  little  lady-physician; 
after  that,  I  remain  at  Benzon's  house,  probably 
until  I  leave  Boston.  Benzon  arranged  with  Rebecca 
that  she  was  to  persuade  me  to  this ;  and  as  they  pro 
posed  to  settle  the  whole  thing,  it  is  both  advisable 
and  agreeable  to  me.  Benzon  himself  is  unmarried,  but 
as  the  wife  of  his  associate,  Mr.  K.,  superintends  his 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  137 

house,  I  can  be  boarded  with  her  after  Benzon  has  left 
for  Europe,  which  will  be  about  the  beginning  of  January. 
This  is  highly  agreeable  to  me  also,  in  an  economic  point 
of  view.  Benzon  is  a  very  good  man,  of  a  noble  mind 
and  refined  education,  refined  and  delicate  in  his  manners, 
so  that  one  can  accept  such  a  kindness  at  his  hands,  and 
besides  that  have  pleasure  in  his  society.  And,  moreover, 
I  can  be  more  free  in  his  house,  and  have  much  more  quiet 
than  I  could  any  where  else,  at  least  in  any  of  those 
families  which  have  kindly  been  opened  to  me  :  for  there 
the  duties  of  society  would  be  incumbent  upon  me,  which 
they  will  not  be  here.  So  that  I  believe  it  could  not  be 
better  arranged  for  me  than  it  now  is. 

December  IQth. — Good  morning,  my  little  Agatha  ;  this 
bright,  rather  windy  and  cold  day,  I  saw  the  sun  rise 
in  the  morning  and  shine  into  my  bed  through  the  fir-trees 
before  my  window :  and  Sweden  and  my  beloved  ones 
were  so  near  to  me  in  this  salutation  of  the  sun  through 
the  pine-trees,  that  I  saluted  that  new  sun  for  them  as 
well  as  for  myself,  and  saluted  this  new  world  which  gave 
and  gives  me  so  much  of  life  and  interest. 

I  have  now  spent  some  quiet  days  in  Cambridge,  the 
quietest  days  which  I  have  spent  since  I  came  into  this 
country.  I  now  see  company  and  receive  visits  only 
in  the  evenings.  Bergfalk  is  now  also  in  Cambridge,  and 
happy  in  the  company  of  a  library  of  14,000  volumes, 
and  of  various  lawyers  who  embrace  him  warmly. 
With  him  and  my  young  host,  I  one  day  lately  visited  the 
several  buildings  of  the  University  and  the  library.  In 
the  latter  I  was  surprised  to  find  one  portion  of  the 
Swedish  literature  not  badly  represented  here.  This  is 
owing  to  the  poet,  Professor  Longfellow,  who  having 
himself  travelled  in  Sweden  sent  hither  these  books.  He 
has  also  written  about  Sweden,  and  has  translated  several 
of  Tegner's  poems.  I  found  also  the  Ecldas  among  the 
Swedish  books.  Bergfalk  laid  his  hands  on  the  West- 


138  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

gotha  laws,  which  he  treated  as  an  old  friend,  and  in 
which  he  showed  some  of  the  gentlemen  who  accom 
panied  us,  an  example  of  that  alliteration  which  was  so 
much  in  vogue  in  the  writings  of  our  forefathers,  and 
about  which  the  gentlemen  found  much  to  say.  I  saw 
also  Audubon's  large  and  really  magnificent  work  on  the 
American  birds,  a  work  of  genius  besides. 

Among  the  visitors  whom  I  have  seen  and  who  have 
interested  me,  are  a  Mrs.  E.  and  her  daughter  Ida. 
Ida  was  born  in  Sweden  where  her  father  was  charge 
d'affaires  many  years,  and  although  she  left  the  country 
as  a  child,  she  has  retained  an  affection  for  Sweden  and 
the  Swedes.  She  is  a  handsome  and  agreeable  young 
lady.  Her  mother  looks  like  goodness  itself. 

"  I  cannot  promise  you  much  that  is  entertaining,"  said 
she,  in  inviting  me  to  her  house,  "but  I  will  nurse 
you ! " 

I  could  not  but  embrace  her  for  this  motherly  good  will ; 
but  ah!  that  which  I  need  is  not  continually  ranging 
and  flitting  about  from  house  to  house,  but  to  be  quiet  for 
a  while.  I  promised  nevertheless  to  go  to  them  (they  live 
in  the  country,  some  miles  on  the  other  side  of  Boston) 
on  Christmas-eve,  which  they  will  keep  in  a  northern 
fashion,  with  Christmas  pine -twigs,  Christmas  candles,  and 
Christmas-boxes,  and,  as  I  perceive,  great  ceremony.  But 
more  than  all  the  Christmas -candles,  and  the  Christmas- 
boxes,  do  I  need — a  little  rest. 

23rd. — I  have  been  this  week  to  several  dinner-parties 
— one  very  excellent  at  the  house  of  Professor  Longfellow 
and  his  handsome  and  agreeable  wife.  Their  house  is 
handsome,  and  there  we  met  Miss  Charlotte  Cushman 
and  Miss  Hays,  a  young  English  lady  of  interesting 
appearance,  very  quiet  and  noble  deportment,  who  travels 
with  her  and  is  her  friend,  Charles  Simmer  and  a  couple 
of  other  gentlemen.  Longfellow  is  an  agreeable  host, 
and  gave  us  American  wines,  sherry  and  champagne, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  139 

the  latter  I  thought  especially  good;  it  is  made  from 
the  Cataba  grape  at  Cincinnati.  We  dined  also  at 
the  house  of  the  pleasing  and  lively  Mrs.  F.,  whose 
husband  is  a  martyr  to  neuralgia,  which  makes  many 
martyrs  in  this  country.  I  could  scarcely  avoid  shedding 
tears  when  I  saw  him,  he  looked  so  suffering,  yet  so 
perfectly  patient,  as  he  sat  there  quite  lame  in  his 
wheeled  chair. 

Farther,  we  dined  at  Professor  P.'s,  a  Swedenborgian, 
who  showed  me  much  kindness ;  and  farther  still,  I  have 

been  at  a Bee !  And  if  you  would  know  what  the 

creature  is  in  the  life  of  society  here — then,  behold  ! 
— Is  a  family  reduced  to  poverty  by  sickness  or  fire,  and 
the  children  are  in  want  of  clothes  or  whatever  else  it 
may  be,  immediately  a  number  of  ladies  of  the  neigh 
bourhood  who  are  in  good  circumstances  meet  together 
at  one  place  to  sew  for  them.  Such  a  sewing-assembly 
as  this  is  called  a  Bee! 

And  now  there  was  a  Bee  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  S., 
the  lady  of  the  President  of  the  University,  to  sew  for 
a  family  who  had  lost  all  their  clothing  by  fire,  and  I 
was  invited  to  be  present  at  it.  The  bee -hive  was  ex 
cellent,  and  busy,  and  cheerful,  and  had — if  not  honey 
— remarkably  good  milk  and  cake  to  offer  the  working 
bees,  among  whom  I  took  my  place,  but  not  to  do 
very  much  myself. 

A  merry  little  man,  Professor  K.,  a  Dane  by  birth, 
and  a  true  Dane  in  naivete  and  loquacity,  has  visited  and 
amused  us  many  times.  He  has  associated  himself  with  a 
Polish  professor,  one  as  large  and  stately  as  the  Dane  is 
little  and  lively,  and  the  two  are  always  together  dis 
puting  and  making  speeches, — singing  each  his  own  songs 
in  so  amazingly  contrasting  a  manner,  that  Maria  Lowell 
and  myself  kept  this  evening  continually  bursting  into 
fits  of  laughter. 

Professor  Desor,  a  Swiss  and  naturalist,  has  interested 


140  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

me  greatly  by  his  anecdotes  of  natural  history  and  his 
friendly  attentions. 

In  the  evenings  when  I  and  my  young  friends  are  alone, 
we  read;  Maria  reads  her  husband's  poetry  charmingly 
well,  or  I  relate  to  them  some  little  romantic  passage, 
or  a  Swedish  love  or  ghost-story,  or  I  beg  of  them  to 
relate  such  to  me.  In  this  way  I  soon  become  at  home 
in  a  family. 

But  the  New  World  is  too  young,  and  has  too  few  old 
houses  and  old  rubbish  for  ghosts  to  thrive  there ;  and  as 
to  love-stories  they  do  not  seem  to  be  remarkable  enough 
to  become  historical,  except  in  the  homes  and  the  hearts 
where  they  live  in  silence.  But  still,  every  home  in 
which  I  have  yet  lived  gives  me  its  love-history,  as  its 
best  flower,  before  I  have  left  it ;  it  always  amuses  me 
very  much,  and  I  am  filled  with  manifold  admiration  of 
the  blind,  or  rather  the  clairvoyant,  god's  devices  for 
making  one  out  of  two. 

I  go  out  every  day,  either  with  my  young  friends  or 
alone.  With  them  I  visited,  to-day,  Mount  Auburn, 
the  great  burial-place  of  Boston,  a  romantic,  park-like 
district,  with  hills  and  valleys,  and  beautiful  trees.  Elms 
seem  to  be  the  favourite  trees  of  Massachussets.  I  never 
saw  such  large  and  beautiful  elms  as  here.  They  shoot 
aloft,  palm-like,  with  branching  trunks,  and  spread  forth 
their  crowns,  bending  down  their  branches  in  the  most 
pliant  and  graceful  manner.  In  their  branches,  now 
leafless,  I  often  see  a  little,  well-built  bird's-nest  hang, 
swinging  in  the  wind.  It  is  a  small  and  very  delicate 
bird,  called  the  oriole,  which  thus  builds  a  cradle 
for  its  young,  and  its  bed  must  be  very  pleasant. 
It  has  thus  built  in  the  branches  of  an  immense  elm 
at  Cambridge,  called  Washington's  elm. 

The  weather  is  for  the  most  part  beautiful  and  sunny, 
and  the  colour  of  the  sky  wonderfully  clear  and  bright. 
Its  beauty  and  the  transparency  of  the  atmosphere  charms 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  141 

me.  The  weather  was  enchanting  yesterday ;  it  was  like 
a  spring-day.  I  frequently  go  alone  to  a  tract  of  land 
where  the  road  soon  ceases,  but  where  the  view  is  ex 
tensive  over  the  grassy  fields;  the  ridge  of  the  lofty 
horizon  is  clothed  with  pine-woods,  and  everywhere,  both 
near  and  afar  off,  are  seen  small  clusters  of  white  houses 
and  churches.  The  grass  is  now  withered  and  yellow, 
but  when  the  wind  sweeps  over  it,  it  bears  with  it — • 
I  know  not  what  extraordinarily  agreeable  odour,  which 
produces  a  wonderful  effect  upon  me :  memories  plea 
sant  and  affecting,  beloved  countenances,  glances,  voices 
come  to  me  in  it;  a  thousand  feelings,  thoughts,  pre 
sentiments  ;  life  becomes  too  full ;  the  heart  overflows, 
and  my  eyes  swim  with  tears  :  how  is  it  ? — I  feel  myself  less 
strong  than  formerly,  and  I  often  have  a  sensation  of  fever. 
— I  need  rest. — Many  also  say  the  same,  but  not  many  wish 
it  for  me.  We  shall  see,  we  shall  see  whether  I  am 
able  to  go  to  Milton  Hill  (to  the  R.'s),  and  keep  Christ 
mas.  I  wish  it,  intend  it,  but 

December  25th.  Ah  !  no,  my  child.  The  journey  has 
not  taken  place.  I  had  already  begun  to  pack  my  port 
manteau,  but  I  could  not  manage  it,  and  my  courage 
failed.  I  wrote  to  say  it  was  impossible  (by  a  young 
gentleman  who  was  going  to  the  festivity)  and  thus  I 
passed  Christmas-eve  quite  alone  with  Maria  Lowell.  I 
sewed,  and  she  read  aloud  to  me  her  husband's 
new  work  which  had  been  published  the  day  before. 
Thus  we  conversed  quietly  and  inwardly  from  the  open 
heart  and  soul — even  as  we  may  converse  in  heaven.  All 
the  rest  of  the  family  were  gone  to  an  entertainment  at 
Boston. 

The  Christmas-eve  of  the  year  before  I  had  spent  in 
Denmark  with  the  beautiful  and  excellent  Queen  Caroline 
Amalia.  The  year  before  that  with  you  at  Arsta,  with 
Christmas  branches,  and  cheer,  and  dance,  for  our  country- 
children,  a  merry  company  !  then  to  the  Christmas  matins 


142  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  next  morning.  And  now  this  evening  in  another 
hemisphere,  alone  with  a  beloved  young  wife — beautiful, 
dissimilar  pictures  of  life  ! 

In  the  morning  I  shall  leave  this  family  and  Cambridge. 
I  have  visited  many  homes  in  this  neighbourhood ;  all 
are  alike  in  the  internal  construction,  neatness,  arrange 
ment  and  comfort ;  in  some  there  is  a  little  more,  in 
others  a  little  less  beauty;  in  that  lies  the  principal 
difference.  Longfellow's  is  among  the  most  beautiful  and 
the  most  artistic  homes  I  have  seen  here.  One  beautiful 
decoration  which  I  have  seen  in  the  homes  here,  as  well 
as  in  the  other  small  houses  of  New  England  which  I 
have  visited,  is  a  large  bouquet,  a  regularly  gigantic 
bouquet  of  the  beautiful  grasses  of  the  country,  and 
which,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  these  specimens,  are  of 
gigantic  growth.  These  are  placed  as  decorations  in  vases 
in  the  parlour,  and  used  also  in  other  ways.  One  often 
sees  little  humming  birds,  not  of  course  alive,  fluttering 
among  the  grasses.  I  have  seen  also  groups  of  the 
beautiful  birds  of  the  country,  and  shells,  used  for  the 
decoration  of  rooms,  and  these  seem  to  me  excellent,  and 
in  the  best  taste.  We,  even  in  Sweden,  might  have  such, 
if  we  would  set  more  store  on  that  which  is  our  own — 
through  the  gift  and  favour  of  God. 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  kind  the  Lowells  were  and  are 
to  me.  I  have  sketches  of  them  in  my  album  and  in  my 
heart,  and  you  shall  see  them  in  both. 

I  must  now  say  farewell,  and  kiss  you  and  mamma  in 
spirit.  I  always  fancy  myself  writing  to  both  at  once. 
May  I  only  soon  receive  good  letters  from  my  dear 
ones  !  That  would  be  the  best  Christmas-box  that  I  could 
receive. 

I  had  almost  forgotten — and  that  I  ought  not  to  do — to 
tell  you  of  a  visit  I  have  had  this  evening  from  the 
Quaker  and  poet  Whittier,  one  of  the  purest  and  most 
gifted  of  the  poetical  minds  of  the  Northern  States, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  143 

glowing  for  freedom,  truth  and  justice,  combating  for 
them  in  his  songs  and  against  their  enemies  in  the  social 
life  of  the  New  World ;  one  of  those  Puritans  who  will 
not  bend  to  or  endure  injustice  in  any  form.  He  has  a 
good  exterior,  in  figure  is  slender  and  tall,  a  beautiful 
head  with  refined  features,  black  eyes  full  of  fire,  dark 
complexion,  a  fine  smile,  and  lively,  but  very  nervous 
manner.  Both  soul  and  spirit  have  overstrained  the 
nervous  chords  and  wasted  the  bocty.  He  belongs  to 
those  natures  who  would  advance  with  firmness  and  joy  to 
martyrdom  in  a  good  cause,  and  yet  who  are  never 
comfortable  in  society,  and  who  look  as  if  they  would  run 
out  of  the  door  every  moment.  He  lives  with  his  mother 
and  sister  in  a  country-house,  to  which  I  have  promised  to 
go.  I  feel  that  I  should  enjoy  myself  with  Whittier,  and 
could  make  him  feel  at  ease  with  me.  I  know  from  my 
own  experience  what  this  nervous  bashfulness,  caused 
by  the  over-exertion  of  the  brain,  requires,  and  how 
persons  who  suffer  therefrom  ought  to  be  met  and 
treated. 

I  have  had  a  little  botanic  conversation  with  the 
distinguished  Professor  of  Botany  here,  Asa  Gray,  who 
came  and  presented  me  with  a  bouquet  of  fragrant  violets. 
He  gave  me  also  out  of  his  herbarium  some  specimens  of 
the  American  Linnea  borealis,  which  resembles  our 
Swedish,  but  is  considerably  less,  and  has  somewhat 
different  leaves.  I  thought  that  I  should  botanise  a 
great  deal  in  this  country,  but  God  knows  how  it  is  !  The 
good  Downing  sent  me  to-day  a  large  basket,  a  gigantic 
basket-full  of  the  most  magnificent  apples,  alike  splendid 
as  excellent,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  able  to  treat 
my  young  friends  with  them.  The  Downings  and  the 
S s  are  incomparably  kind  to  me. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  my  stay  in  Cambridge,  I  set 
down  an  invitation  I  had  one  evening  to  go  and  take  a 
walk  in  Paradise  with  Adam  and  Eve.  The  gentleman 


144  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

from  whom  it  came,  first  in  writing  and  then  by  word  of 
mouth,  (I  fancy  he  exhibits  some  sort  of  a  wax-work  show) 
gave  me  a  hint  that  several  gentlemen  of  the  Academic 
State  would  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of  making 
my  acquaintance — in  Paradise — in  company  with  Adam 
and  Eve.  You  may  very  well  imagine  what  was  my 
answer.  Beautiful  company ! 

In  conclusion  I  ought  indeed  to  say  a  word  or  two  about 
Cambridge,  an  excellent  little  city  of  small  white  houses, 
with  small  courts  and  gardens,  and  beautiful  lofty  trees, 
regular  and  ornamental,  but  monotonous.  I  should 
in  the  end  be  tempted  to  sing  here — "  The  same 
and  same  always  would  make  our  lives  sour  !  "  Variety 
beautifies  the  whole  of  nature. 

Here  also  was  I  shown  several  very  handsome  houses, 
belonging,  the  one  to  a  bricklayer,  the  other  to  a 
carpenter,  a  third  to  a  cabinet-maker,  and  so  on :  thus 
universally  do  common  handicraft  trades  lead  to  honour 
and  to  property  in  this  country. 

The  University  is  attended  by  about  five  hundred 
students  yearly.  It  is  wholly  a  Unitarian  establishment, 
and  belongs  to  the  Unitarian  Church.  All  branches  01 
natural  history  are  much  studied  here.  Now  however 
people  say  that  the  example  of  the  chemical  professor 
Webster  proves  that  they  do  not  produce  much  sanctity. 
The  history  of  this  murder  continues  to  be  the  topic  of 
general  conversation,  and  proofs  of  Webster's  guilt 
accumulate  more  and  more.  He  however  continues  to 
deny  it.  An  event  of  this  kind  is  without  parallel  in  this 
community,  and  seems  to  every  one  almost  incredible. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  145 


LETTER  VIII. 

BOSTON,  January  1st,  1850. 

A  GOOD  New  Year  to  all  the  beloved  ones  at  home  ! 

Thanks,  rny  dearest  little  Agatha,  for  your  letter !  It 
was  a  heart-felt  joy  and  refreshment  to  me;  for  although 
there  was  here  and  there  a  joyless  shadow  in  it,  yet  a 
cheerful  spirit  breathed  through  the  letter,  which  told  me 
that  you  were  sound  both  soul  and  body.  And  how 
amusing  it  was  to  see  you  go  out  to  dine  with  the 
relations  right  and  left !  And  all  the  little  news  of  home ; 
of  the  new  servant,  for  instance,  who  stands  so  assiduously 
so  rivetted  to  the  back  of  your  chair,  and  then  darts  in 
the  way  before  you,  out  of  sheer  respect  and  zeal  to  open 
the  doors  ;  ah,  how  amusing  is  all  this  to  read  about, 
and  how  amusing  it  seems  at  several  thousand  miles' 
distance !  And  that  mamma  should  be  looking  so  well, 
and  Charlotte  so  much  better — and  Hagbert  be  so  pleased 
amid  his  activity  in  the  country — is  very  inspiriting. 

I  now  again  write  to  you  in  the  house  of  Benzon,  sitting 
in  a  handsome  little  parlour,  furnished  with  green  velvet, 
and  with  beautiful  pictures  and  engravings  on  the  walls ; 
and  I  cannot  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  to  be  here  at  rest 
for  a  time,  a  month  at  least,  because  I  require  repose 
both  for  soul  and  body,  and  I  cannot  possibly  have  more 
quiet,  freedom,  and  comfort  than  I  have  here.  I  have 
not  been  so  well  for  some  time,  for  all  that  moving  about 
and  that  life  of  visiting,  with  its  incessant  demands  both 
on  soul  and  body,  were  too  much  for  me ;  and  all  the  time 
I  was  losing  sleep  and  freshness  of  mind.  But  thank 
God,  both  one  and  the  other  promises  to  return  with 
giant  strides  after  a  few  days'  rest,  and  the  benefit  of  a 
sort  of  Chinese  decoction,  given  me  by  my  little  lady- 
physician,  and — "  Hakon  Jarl  is  still  alive  !"  But  people 

VOL.  I.  L 


146  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

live  quite  differently  here  to  what  they  do  in  Europe. 
Climate  and  food  are  different,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  latter  is  suitable  to  the  climate. 

It  was  not  without  pain  that  I  left  the  Lowells.  They 
are  extremely  estimable  people,  and  I  have  really  a  sisterly 
affection  for  them.  Miss  H.  seized  upon  me  with  all 
her  might.  I  had  not  much  inclination  for  the  visit,  but 
it  turned  out  much  better  than  I  expected.  In  the  first 
place  it  was  amusing  to  become  more  nearly  acquainted 
with  this  very  peculiar  individual.  People  may  have 
better  manners,  more  tact,  and  so  on,  but  it  would  be 
impossible  to  have  a  better  heart ;  one  more  warm  for  the 
best  interests  of  mankind,  and,  upon  the  whole,  more 
practical  sagacity.  She  is  of  a  Quaker  family,  and  with 
that  determined  will  and  energy  which  belongs  to  the 
Quaker  temperament,  she  early  resolved  to  open  both 
for  herself  and  her  sex  a  path  which  she  conceived  it 
important  that  women  should  pursue,  and  towards  which 
she  felt  herself  drawn  in  an  especial  manner.  She 
therefore,  together  with  a  younger  sister,  took  private 
instruction  from  a  clever  and  well-disposed  physician ; 
and  she  has  now,  for  her  sister  is  married,  been  in 
practice  twelve  years  as  a  physician  of  women  and 
children,  acquiring  the  public  confidence,  and  laying  up 
property  (as,  for  instance,  the  house  in  which  she  lives,  a 
frugally  furnished  but  excellent  house,  is  her  own),  and 
aiding,  as  I  heard  from  many,  great  numbers  of  ladies  in 
sickness,  and  in  diseases  peculiar  to  their  sex.  In 
especial  has  she  been  a  benefactor  to  the  women  of  the 
lower  working  classes,  delivering  to  them  also  lectures 
on  physiology,  which  have  been  attended  by  hundreds 
of  women.  She  read  them  to  me  ;  and  the  first  I  heard, 
or  rather  the  introductory  lecture,  gave  me  a  high  opinion 
of  the  little  doctor  and  her  powers  of  mind.  I  was  really 
delighted  with  her,  and  now,  for  the  first  time,  fully  saw 
the  importance  of  women  devoting  themselves  to  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  147 

medical  profession.     The  view  she  took  of  the  human 
body,  and  of  its  value,  had  a  thoroughly  religious  ten 
dency,  and  when  she  laid  it  upon  the  woman's  heart  to 
value  her  own  and  her  child's  physical  frame,  to  under 
stand  them  aright,  and  to  estimate  them  aright,  it  was 
because  their  destination  was  lofty, — because  they  are  the 
habitations  of  the  soul  and  the  temples  of  God.     There 
was  an  earnestness,  a  simplicity,  and  an  honesty  in  her 
representations,  integrity  and  purity  in  every  word ;  the 
style  was  of  the  highest  class,  and  these  lectures  could 
not  but  operate  powerfully  upon  every  poor  human  heart, 
and  in  particular  on  the  heart  of  every  mother.     And 
when  one  reflects  how  important  for  future  generations  is 
the  proper  estimation  of  the  woman  and  the  child,  how 
much  depends  upon  diet,  upon  that  fostering  which  lies 
beyond  the  sphere  of  the  physician  and  his  oversight, 
and   which   women   alone  can  rightly  understand;    who 
can  doubt   of  the   importance  of  the   female   physician 
in  whose  case  science  steps  in  to  aid  the  natural  sense, 
and  to  constitute  her  the  best  helper  and  counsellor  of 
women  and  children  ?  That  women  have  a  natural  feeling 
and  talent  for  the  vocation  of  physician   is  proved  by 
innumerable  instances,  from  the  experience  of  all  ages 
and  people.      And  it  is  a  shame  and  a  pity  that  men 
have  not  hitherto   permitted  these  to  be  developed  by 
science.     How  much  good  for  instance  might  be   done, 
especially  in  the  country  among  the   peasantry,   if  the 
midwife,  besides   the   knowledge   which  is   requisite  to 
bring  a   child   into  the   world,  united  also  to   this  the 
requisite  knowledge  for  helping  the  mother  and  child  to 
a  life  of  health.     But  man  has  neglected  this,  and  still 
neglects  it,  and  it  avenges  itself  upon  thousands  of  sickly 
mothers  and  sickly  children.     If,  then,  woman  possesses 
naturally  a  religious  tendency  of  mind,  and  the  dispo 
sition  to   regard  life   and   all    things   from    a    central, 
sanctifying  point  of  view  inclines  her  to  treat,  even  the 

L  2 


148  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

smallest  tiling  as  of  importance  looked  at  from  this  point 
of  view;  if  she  is  gifted  by  nature  with  the  mother's 
heart,  and  the  mother's  love,  how  well  it  suits  her  to 
become  a  priestess  of  the  temple  in  which  the  child 
should  be  sanctified  to  God — to  the  God  of  health  and 
holiness !  How  sacred  is  her  right  to  be  there  consecrated ! 

In  the  old  times  the  physician  was  also  the  priest,  and 
consecrated  to  holy  mysteries.  The  descendants  of 
^Esculapius  were  a  holy  race,  and  among  them  were 
also  women;  the  daughter  of  ^Esculapius,  Hygeia,  one 
of  them,  was  called  the  goddess  of  health.  Of  this  race 
came  Hippocrates.  We  now  talk  about  Hygeia,  but  we 
only  talk.  She  must  be  recalled  to  earth ;  she  must  have 
room  given  to  her,  and  justice  done  to  her  if  she  is  to 
present  the  earth  with  a  new  Hippocrates. 

But  to  return  to  my  little  human  doctoress,  who  is  not 
without  those  sparks  of  the  divine  life,  which  prove  her  to 
belong  to  the  family  of  ^Esculapius.  One  sees  this  in  her 
eye,  and  hears  it  in  her  words.  But  the  round  short 
figure  has  wholly  and  entirely  an  earthly  character,  and 
nothing  in  it  indicates  the  higher  ideal  life,  excepting  a  pair 
of  small,  beautiful  and  white  hands,  as  soft  as  silk — almost 
too  soft,  and,  as  I  already  said,  a  glance  peculiarly 
sagacious  and  penetrating. 

With  her  I  saw  several  of  the  "  emancipated  ladies," 
as  they  are  called ;  such,  for  instance,  as  deliver  public 
lectures,  speak  in  public  at  antislavery  meetings,  etc. 
One  of  these  struck  me  from  the  picturesque  beauty 
of  her  figure  and  head,  her  pale  noble  countenance  and 
rich  golden  hair,  together  with  the  perfect  gentleness  and 
womanliness  of  her  whole  demeanour  and  conversation, 
united  to  manly  force  of  will  and  conviction.  She  is  a 
Mrs.  Paulina  Davis,  from  Providence,  and  has  for  many 
years  delivered  with  great  success,  lectures  on  physiology, 
which  are  much  attended  by  the  working  classes.  She 
and  niy  little  doctoress  are  warm  friends.  I  saw  also  her 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  149 

husband,  Mr.  Davis ;  he  seems  to  he  a  sensible  man,  and 
perfectly  approves  his  wife's  views  and  activity.  I 
promised  to  visit  this  couple  in  Providence. 

I  heard  here  many  things  about  the  Shakers  and  their 
community,  as  my  little  doctor  is  physician  of  some  of 
them  ;  I  also  read  several  letters  of  some  of  their  elders, 
in  which  occurred  beautiful,  pious  thoughts  and  feelings, 
but  in  a  very  narrow  sphere.  I  received  an  invitation  to 
visit  the  Shaker  establishment  at  Harvard,  near  Boston, 
and  where  there  is  a  garden  of  medicinal  plants.  I  shall 
be  glad  to  become  better  acquainted  with  these  extra 
ordinary  people.  I  saw  here  various  new  kinds  of  people 
and  strangers,  because  my  little  doctor  has  a  large  circle 
of  acquaintances.  Every  evening,  at  the  close  of  the 
day,  she  read  her  Bible  aloud,  and  we  had  prayers  in  the 
old  Puritanic  style. 

My  visit,  and  the  new  pictures  of  life  which  I  saw  here, 
were  really  refreshing  to  me  :  but  I  was  glad  nevertheless 
to  return  to  the  repose  of  Mr.  Benzon's  house,  where 
Mrs.  K.  does  not  say  three  words  during  the  day,  and 
yet  is  kind  and  agreeable,  and  where  a  respectable  good- 
tempered  German,  Christine,  takes  care  both  of  the  house 
and  of  me,  and  where  I  can  be  alone  a  great  portion  of 
the  day,  because  Benzon  is  occupied  at  his  office  out  of 
the  house.  When  he  returns  in  the  evening  he  is  an 
extremely  pleasant  companion,  reading  to  me,  or  con 
versing  in  an  entertaining  manner.  I  have  hitherto  neither 
received  visits  nor  accepted  invitations,  but  have  so 
arranged  that  Mondays  are  my  reception  days.  Thus  I 
shall  now  begin  to  breathe  in  peace,  and  to  read  and  write 
a  little.  To-day,  however,  Benzon  will  accompany  me  to 
the  Lowells,  whom  I  wish  to  surprise  with  a  few  little 
matters  which  I  hope  will  give  them  pleasure.  One  feels 
oneself  so  poor  if  always  receiving  kindness. 

December  *8th. — And  now,  my  dear  child,  I  have  received 
your  second  letter.  And  your  letters — do  you  hear  ? — 


150  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

you  are  not  to  despise.  To  be  able  to  see  by  them 
exactly  how  things  are  at  home,  that  is  my  wish,  whether 
it  be  cloudy  or  bright,  and  your  letters  can  give  me  nothing 
more  precious  than  the  simple  truth — -than  the  reality  as 
it  is.  And  my  little  Agatha,  bear  in  mind  as  much  as 
possible  that  spring  and  summer  will  return — that  the  sun 
is  behind  the  cloud  and  will  come  forth  in  his  due  time. 
That  is  an  old  song,  but  I  have  often  experienced  its 
truth,  and  I  do  so  now. 

We  have  here  a  perfectly  Swedish  winter,  and  to-day 
it  is  as  grey  and  cold  as  we  ever  could  have  it  at 
Stockholm.  And  it  is  a  little  satisfaction  to  me  not  to 
have  it  better  than  my  friends  in  Sweden.  I  am  most 
excellently  well  off  at  Benzon's  house,  and  it  is  a  satisfac 
tion  to  pay  something  towards  my  living,  though  that  is 
not  done  till  Mr.  Benzon  leaves  for  Europe,  which  he  will 
do  on  Wednesday.  He  will  not  however  reach  Stockholm 
before  May  or  June.  He  will  then  call  on  mamma  and 
you  and  convey  greetings  from  me. 

Yesterday  forenoon  I  had  my  reception,  between  twelve 
and  four  o'clock,  and  saw  a  whole  crowd  of  people,  and 
received  a  great  number  of  invitations.  Among  these 
was  one  from  a  lady  with  whom  I  would  gladly  become 
more  intimate ;  this  was  a  Mrs.  B.,  a  young  and  affluent 
widow  with  one  child,  a  splendid  little  girl.  She  looked 
so  good,  so  very  much  like  a  gentlewoman,  was  so 
agreeable  and  so  unspeakably  amiable  towards  me ;  she 
wished  merely,  she  said,  that  I  should  be  benefited  by 
her,  that  she  might  drive  me  out,  and  endeavour  to  give 
me  all  the  pleasure  she  could  in  the  most  delicate  and 
agreeable  manner.  I  should  like  it;  in  her  nothing 
repels,  but  much  pleases  me.  We  could  sit  side  by 
side  in  the  carriage  and  be  silent,  and  of  that  I  am 
very  fond. 

I  have  also  been  present  at  one  of  the  "  Conversations  " 
of  Alcott,  the  Transcendentalist,  and  have  even  taken  some 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  151 

part  in  the  conversation.  There  were  present  from  forty  to 
fifty  people,  all  seated  on  benches.  Alcott  sits  in  a  pulpit 
with  his  face  towards  the  people,  and  begins  the  conversa 
tion  by  reading  something  aloud.  On  this  occasion  it  was 
from  the  writings  of  Pythagoras.  He  is  a  handsome  man 
of  gentle  manners,  but  a  dreamer  whose  Pythagorean 
wisdom  will  hardly  make  people  wiser  now  a  days.  He 
himself  has  lived  for  many  years  only  on  bread,  fruits, 
vegetables,  and  water,  and  this  is  what  he  wishes  all  other 
people  to  do ;  and  thus  fed,  they  would  become,  according 
to  his  theory,  beautiful,  good  and  happy  beings.  Sin  is 
to  be  driven  out  by  diet.  And  the  sacred  flood  of  enthu 
siasm  would  constantly  flow  in  the  human  being  purified 
and  beautified  by  diet.  Both  the  proposition  and  the 
conversation  were  in  the  clouds,  although  I  made  a  few 
attempts  to  draw  them  forth.  Alcott  drank  water  and  we 
drank — fog.  He  has  paid  me  a  few  visits,  and  has 
interested  me  as  a  study.  He  passed  last  evening  with 
me  and  Benzon,  and  entertained  us  with  various  portions 
of  his  doctrine.  Every  bland  and  blue-eyed  person, 
according  to  him,  belongs  to  the  nations  of  light,  to  the 
realm  of  light  and  goodness.  I  should  think  Lowell  would 
be  Alcott's  ideal  of  a  son  of  light ;  all  persons  however 
with  dark  eyes  and  hair,  are  of  the  night  and  evil.  I 
mentioned  Wilberforce  and  other  champions  of  the  light, 
with  dark  hair.  But  the  good  Alcott  hears  an  objection 
as  if  he  heard  it  not,  and  his  conversations  consist  in  his 
talking  and  teaching  himself.  We  drank  tea,  and  I 
endeavoured  to  persuade  Alcott  to  drink  at  least  a  glass  of 
milk.  But  that  was  too  much  akin  to  animal  food.  He 
would  not  take  anything  but  a  glass  of  water  and  a  piece 
of  bread.  He  is  at  all  events  a  Transcendentalist  who 
lives  as  he  teaches. 

I  have  accepted  some  invitations  for  this  week.  I  am 
to  dine  on  Sunday  with  Laura  Bridgeman  at  the  house 
of  her  second  creator,  the  director  of  the  Deaf  and 


152  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Dumb  Institution  in  Boston — Dr.  How.  His  agreeable 
wife  came  here  herself  with  the  invitation. 

9th. — I  shall  now  close  my  letter  because  Benzon  is 
about  to  set  out  on  his  journey.  I  shall  miss  him,  for  he 
has  been  indescribably  kind  and  agreeable  to  me,  and  has 
arranged  everything  beforehand  so  admirably,  that  it  could 
not  be  better  or  more  convenient. 

To-day  I  shall  dine  and  spend  the  evening  out.  So 
also  to-morrow ;  and  to-morrow  in  the  forenoon  I  shall 
visit  several  public  institutions  in  company  with  Charles 
Sumner,  the  young  giant  and  lawyer.  I  begin  now  to 
rattle  about  again.  If  one  could  only  do  it  in  moderation. 
But  there  are  difficulties  here  in  this  country. 

Bergfalk  is  again  in  New  York.  We  shall  probably 
hardly  meet  again,  as  his  ways  are  not  my  ways, 
excepting  in  our  common  goal  and  object — Sweden. 


LETTER  IX. 

BOSTON,  Jan.  22nd. 

I  SHALL  now,  my  sweet  child,  have  a  little  chat  with 
you,  and  this  chat  I  shall  send  by  post.  I  can  hardly 
conceive  that  I  have  not  written  to  you  for  all  these 
fourteen  days ;  but  one  engagement  succeeded  another, 
and  people,  and  letter-writing,  and  many  things  occupied 
the  time,  and  the  days  went  on — I  know  not  how. 

I  have  also  been  a  little  out  of  sorts  again  and  not  able 
to  do  much.  The  good  allopathists  here — and  I  have  had 
one  of  the  first  physicians  in  Boston — did  not  understand 
my  malady,  and  prescribed  merely  for  the  stomach.  I 
therefore  took  refuge  with  homoeopathy. 

But  I  must  tell  you  how  it  happened.  I  went  one 
day — although  I  felt  very  miserably  unwell — to  visit 
several  public  institutions,  accompanied  or  rather  taken 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  153 

there  by  Charles  Sumner.  First  to  the  House  of  Correc 
tion  for  women,  where  I  admired  the  order  and  arangement 
of  everything  ;  after  that  we  went  to  the  Lunatic  Asylum 
for  the  poor.  It  was  clean  and  well-ordered,  but,  ah  ! 
it  was  deficient  in  all  the  comfort  and  beauty  which 
had  distinguished  the  Asylum  for  the  wealthy  insane 
at  Bloomingdale.  One  woman  conceived  a  violent  friend 
ship  for  me,  embraced  and  blessed  me  continually,  and 
desired  the  others  to  bless  me  also. 

"  Say,  bless  her  !  "  said  she  to  Mr.  Sumner.  He  was 
engaged  in  conversation  with  the  superintendent  and  did 
not  attend  to  her  request.  She  repeated  it,  and  said 
finally  in  a  wild,  threatening  voice — "  Say,  bless  her  !  " 

"  Yes,  God  bless  her  !  "  said  Sumner,  now  kindly,  in 
his  deep,  beautiful  voice ;  and  with  this  my  friend  laughed 
and  was  very  much  pleased. 

Among  the  men  were  two  with  whom  Sumner  was 
acquainted ;  they  were  two  of  his  college  companions ; 
men  with  good  heads,  and  who  had  been  before  him  in 
mathematics.  Now  their  high-arched  foreheads  appeared 
not  to  harbour  a  sensible  thought.  One  of  them  recog 
nised  his  former  comrade,  but  the  recognition  seemed  to 
grieve  and  embarrass  him. 

From  this  asylum  I  was  obliged  to  go  out  to  dine,  and 
after  that  to  a  Swedenborgian  meeting  at  the  Sweden- 
borgian  church,  where  I  shook  hands  with  about  one 
hundred  Swedenborgians. 

It  was  half-past  ten  when  at  length  I  reached  home, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  the  day  I  experienced  a  feeling  of 
comfort  and  satisfaction.  Every  feeling  of  annoyance  had 
vanished,  and  I  enjoyed  half  an  hour  of  rest  with  a  female 
friend  who  .had  accompanied  me  home.  But  at  this 
moment  came  my  physician,  and  would  of  necessity  take 
me  with  him  to  a  large  party. 

I  prayed  to  be  excused ;  I  said,  "  Now  for  the  first 
time  am  I  enjoying  rest  to-day ;  for  the  first  time  to-day 


154  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

am  I  feeling  pretty  well.  You  are  doing  now  what  so 
many  others  do  ;  you  say  I  must  have  rest,  and  yet  you  at 
the  same  time  compel  me  to  go  into  company  !  " 

It  was  of  no  use.  I  could  not  gainsay  my  physician ; 
go  I  must,  and  that  to  a  party,  given  by  one  of  the  most 
elegant  ladies  of  Boston,  at  about  twelve  o'clock  at 
night.  It  was  too  much  !  And  that  is  the  way  they  kill 
strangers  in  this  country.  They  have  no  mercy  on  the  poor 
lion,  who  must  make  a  show  and  whisk  his  tail  about 
as  long  as  there  is  any  life  left  in  him.  One  must 
really  be  downright  obstinate  and  stern,  if  one  would  be 
at  peace  here.  And  I  feel  as  if  I  should  become  so.  It 
is  said  that  Spurzheim  was  regularly  killed  with  kindness 
by  the  Bostonians. 

But  to  return  to  my  evening.  That  nervous  de 
pression  again  returned  and  I  passed  two  distressing 
hours,  and  envied  the  Indians  and  all  free  people  who 
lived  in  the  open,  wild  woods.  When  again  at  home, 
I  was  seized  by  the  dread  of  one  of  my  sleepless 
nights,  and  of  the  wretched  day  which  was  certain 
to  succeed  it,  when  life  would  seem  to  be  the  heaviest 
of  burdens  although  I  might  not  be  otherwise  ill.  When 
therefore  I  now  felt  my  hands  burning  as  in  fever,  I 
recollected  some  homoeopathic  globules  which  my  friend 
Downing,  who  is  himself  a  homoeopathist,  had  given  me 
when  I  was  very  much  excited,  and  which  had  calmed  me 
wonderfully.  Of  these  I  took  a  few,  and — I  slept  better 
that  night  than  I  had  done  for  many  weeks.  As  early 
therefore  as  possible  the  following  day  I  went  out 
among  my  acquaintance  in  Boston,  inquiring  after  a 
homoeopathic  physician.  A  kind,  handsome,  elderly  lady, 
Mrs.  C.  (the  mother  of  three  tall  sons),  promised  to 
send  her  physician  to  me.  Accordingly  when,  about  noon, 
having  returned  from  a  walk,  I  entered  my  sitting-room,  I 
beheld  there  a  tall  old  gentleman  with  a  pale  and  strongly 
marked  countenance,  high  forehead,  bald  temples,  silver- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  156 

grey  hair,  and  a  pair  of  deep-set,  blue  eyes  full  of  feeling 
and  fervour.  He  stood  there  silent  and  dressed  in  black, 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  with  the  appearance  almost  of 
a  clergyman,  and  with  his  penetrating,  earnest  eyes  riveted 
upon  me.  I  do  not  know  how  it  was,  but  it  was  so,  that 
from  the  first  moment  I  saw  him  I  felt  confidence  in  and 
affection  towards  him.  I  advanced  towards  him,  took  his 
hand  between  both  mine,  looked  up  in  his  pale,  grave 
countenance  and  said,  "help  me  !"  Thus  helpless,  feeble, 
and  poor,  had  I  now  for  some  time  felt  myself  to  be,  under 
the  power  as  it  were  of  a  strange  suffering,  which 
crippled  me  both  in  soul  and  body,  and  alone  too,  in  a 
strange  land,  without  any  other  support  than  the  powers 
of  my  own  soul  and  body  to  sustain  me  through  the  work 
which  I  had  undertaken  ! 

He  replied  in  a  deep  bass  voice,  speaking  slowly  as  if 
with  difficulty — but  ah,  my  child,  it  seems  like  vanity 
in  me  to  say  what  he  replied  ;  but  let  me  seem  vain  for 
this  once — he  said,  "Miss  Bremer,  no  one  can  have 
read  your  Neighbours,  and  not  wish  to  help  you !  And 
I  hope  to  be  able  to  help  you !  " 

I  wept ;  I  kissed  the  thin,  bony  hands,  which  I  held, 
as  I  would  have  kissed  those  of  a  fatherly  benefactor ;  I 
felt  myself  also  like  a  child. 

He  gave  me  a  little  white  powder,  which  looked  like 
nothing,  and  which  I  was  to  take  before  I  went  to  bed. 
I  took  it ;  slept  excellently,  and  the  next  day — ah  !  what 
feelings.  All  malady  was  gone.  I  felt  myself  as  if 
sustained  by  spirit-wings ;  a  nameless  sensation  of 
peace  and  health  pervaded  my  whole  being.  I  went 
out.  I  did  not  feel  my  body.  I  rejoiced  in  the  blueness 
of  heaven,  in  the  leaping  of  the  billows.  I  could  see 
that  the  world  was  beautiful.  I  had  not  felt  thus  for  a 
long  time,  and  the  certainty  that  I  had  now  a  remedy 
which  would  support  my  still  vigorous  power  and  will, 
made  me  unspeakably  happy.  I  thanked  God.  And 


156  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

not  merely  for  my  own  sake,  but  for  yours,  because  I  am 
convinced  that  nothing  would  suit  you  and  your  weakness 
so  well  as  these  airy,  light,  almost  spiritual,  and  won 
derfully  effective  medicines.  These  little  white  nothings 
of  powders  and  globules,  which  taste  like  nothing,  look 
like  nothing,  operate  powerfully  and  quickly,  often  within 
half  or  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  And,  finally,  I  beg  of  you 
to  make  the  trial  of  them,  if  this  winter,  as  is  generally 
the  case  with  you  in  the  winter,  you  find  yourself  out  of 
health,  both  body  and  mind ;  make  the  trial  of  them,  and 
throw  all  other  medicine  out  of  the  window.  Pay  atten 
tion  also  to  diet,  and  that  you  do  not  eat  anything  which 
disagrees  with  you.  My  doctor  maintains  that  my 
disorder  proceeds  from  the  stomach,  and  is  of  the  kind 
very  common  in  this  country,  and  which  is  called 
dyspepsia.  He  has  prescribed  for  me  a  very  exact  diet ; 
that  I  am  not  to  eat  fat  or  greasy  meat,  nor  roast  meat, 
nor  highly  seasoned,  no  preserves,  nor  many  other  things. 
I  was  for  a  long  time  obstinate,  and  insisted  upon  it 
that  my  stomach  was  the  best  part  about  me.  I  have, 
however,  since  then  remarked,  to  my  astonishment,  that 
certain  food  operates  upon  my  condition;  that,  for 
instance,  I  wake  in  the  morning  with  a  sensation  of 
misery  if  I  eat  preserves  in  the  evening ;  and  that,  on  the 
contrary,  I  am  quite  well  in  the  morning  when  I  eat 
nothing  sweet  or  fat  in  the  evening.  The  difficulty  is 
for  me,  here  in  this  country,  to  adhere  to  any  fixed 
regimen,  but  I  am  becoming  more  and  more  convinced 
that  the  diet  here  is  unwholesome,  and  is  not  suited  to 
the  climate,  which  is  hot  and  stimulating.  They  eat  hot 
bread  for  breakfast,  as  well  as  many  fat  and  heating 
dishes,  besides  roast  pork,  sausages,  omelets,  and  such 
like.  In  the  evening,  especially  at  all  suppers,  they  eat 
oysters  stewed,  or  as  salad,  and  peach-preserve  or  peach- 
ice.  Oysters,  cooked  in  every  possible  way,  are  very 
much  eaten  by  all,  and  precisely  these,  and  the  other 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  157 

articles  which  I  have  mentioned,  are  difficult  of  digestion 
and  highly  injurious  to  weak  stomachs. 

And  now  adieu  to  this  food,  physic,  and  stomach 
chapter,  but  which  has  a  great  interest  for  me  and  many 
others,  and  which  ought  to  be  seriously  taken  into 
consideration  here. 

As  to  my  doctor,  I  must  tell  you  that  his  name  is 
David  Osgood,  that  he  visits  me  every  day,  and  treats  me 
with  the  greatest  tenderness,  and  that  he  has  promised 
to  make  me  quite  cheerful  and  strong  before  I  leave 
Boston.  He  is  of  an  old  Puritan  family,  and  is  himself 
a  real  original ;  he  has  a  rough  exterior,  but  the  most 
gentle  and  the  best  of  hearts,  as  may  be  seen  by  his  eyes. 
There  are  certain  eyes  which  certainly  can  never  die. 
They  must  remain  in  heaven  as  they  are  on  earth.  That 
which  I  remember  most  clearly  about  my  friends,  is 
always  their  eyes,  their  glance.  I  am  sure  that  at  the 
resurrection  I  shall  recognise  my  friends  by  their 
eyes. 

I  must  now  tell  you  about  Concord,  and  the  Sphinx 
in  Concord,  Waldo  Emerson,  because  I  went  to  Concord 
five  days  ago,  attended  by — "  himself."  I  was  wretchedly 
unwell;  I  do  not  know  what  it  was  that  I  had 
eaten  the  day  before,  or  whether  it  was  merely  the 
removal  and  the  journey  to  a  new  home  which  had 
caused  me  to  have  no  sleep  the  preceding  night.  What 
ever  the  cause  might  be,  I  sate,  weak  with  fever  and 
dejected  in  mind,  by  the  side  of  the  strong  man,  silent 
and  without  being  able  to  say  a  single  word,  merely 
mechanically  turning  my  head  as  he  pointed  out  to  me 
a  few  remarkable  places  which  we  passed.  And  he  per 
fectly  understood  what  was  amiss  with  me,  and  let  me  be 
silent.  I  was  weak  with  fever,  and  oppressed  with  a 
feeling  as  if  I  should  fall  to  pieces  during  the  first  four- 
and-twenty  hours  that  I  was  in  Emerson's  house ;  but 
after  that,  whether  it  was  the  little  white  nothing-powder, 


158  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

or  the  pure  snow-refreshed  atmosphere  (we  had  a  regu 
larly  beautiful  Swedish  winter  at  Concord),  or  whether 
it  was  the  presence  of  that  strong  and  strength -giving 
spirit  in  whose  home  I  found  myself,  or  whether  it  was 
all  these  together,  I  cannot  say,  hut  I  became  quite 
right  again,  and  felt  myself  light  and  well. 

And  during  the  four  days  that  I  remained  in  Emerson's 
house,  I  had  a  real  enjoyment  in  the  study  of  this  strong, 
noble,  eagle-like  nature.  Any  near  approximation  was, 
as  it  were,  imperfect,  because  our  characters  and  views 
are  fundamentally  dissimilar,  and  that  secret  antagonism 
which  exists  in  me  towards  him,  spite  of  my  admiration, 
would  at  times  awake,  and  this  easily  called  forth  his 
icy-alp  nature,  repulsive  and  chilling.  But  this  is  not 
the  original  nature  of  the  man ;  he  does  not  rightly  thrive 
in  it,  and  he  gladly  throws  it  off,  if  he  can,  and  is  much 
happier,  as  one  can  see,  in  a  mild  and  sunny  atmosphere 
where  the  natural  beauty  of  his  being  may  breathe  freely 
and  expand  into  blossom,  touched  by  that  of  others  as 
by  a  living  breeze.  I  enjoyed  the  contemplation  of  him, 
in  his  demeanour,  his  expression,  his  mode  of  talking, 
and  his  every-day  life,  as  I  enjoy  contemplating  the  calm 
flow  of  a  river  bearing  along,  and  between  flowery  shores, 
large  and  small  vessels — as  I  love  to  see  the  eagle  circling 
in  the  clouds,  resting  upon  them  and  its  pinions.  In 
this  calm  elevation  Emerson  allows  nothing  to  reach 
him,  neither  great  nor  small ;  neither  prosperity  nor 
adversity. 

Pantheistic  as  Emerson  is  in  his  philosophy,  in 
the  moral  view,  with  which  he  regards  the  world  and 
life,  he  is  in  a  high  degree  pure,  noble,  and  severe, 
demanding  as  much  from  himself  as  he  demands  from 
others.  His  words  are  severe,  his  judgment  often 
keen  and  merciless,  but  his  demeanour  is  alike  noble 
and  pleasing,  and  his  voice  beautiful.  One  may  quarrel 
with  Emerson's  thoughts,  with  his  judgment,  but  not 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  159 

with  himself.  That  which  struck  me  most,  as  distinguish 
ing  him  from  most  other  human  beings,  is  nobility.  He 
is  a  born  nobleman.  I  have  seen  before  two  other  men 
born  with  this  stamp  upon  them.  His  Excellency 

W r,  in  Sweden,  and is  the  second,  Emerson 

the  third,  which  has  it,  and  perhaps  in  a  yet  higher 
degree.  And  added  thereto  that  deep  intonation  of  voice, 
that  expression,  so  mild  yet  so  elevated  at  the  same  time. 
I  could  not  but  think  of  Maria  Lowell's  words,  "If  he 
merely  mentions  my  name  I  feel  myself  ennobled." 

I  enjoyed  Emerson's  conversation,  which  flowed  as 
calmly  and  easily  as  a  deep  and  placid  river.  It  was 
animating  to  me  both  when  I  agreed  and  when  I  dis 
sented;  there  is  always  a  something  important  in  what 
he  says,  and  he  listens  well  and  comprehends,  and  replies 
well  also.  But  whether  it  was  the  weariness  of  the  spirit, 
or  whether  a  feeling  of  esteem  for  his  peace  and  freedom, 
I  know  not,  but  I  did  not  invite  his  conversation.  When 
it  came  it  was  good ;  when  it  did  not  come  it  was  good 
also,  especially  if  he  were  in  the  room.  His  presence  was 
agreeable  to  me.  He  was  amiable  in  his  attention  to  me, 
and  in  his  mode  of  entertaining  me  as  a  stranger  and 
guest  in  his  house. 

He  read  to  me  one  afternoon  some  portions  of  his 
Observations  on  England  (in  manuscript),  and  scraps  from 
his  conversations  with  Thomas  Caiiyle  (the  only  man  of 
whom  I  heard  Emerson  speak  with  anything  like  admira 
tion),  about  "  the  young  America,"  as  well  as  the  narrative 
of  his  journey  with  him  to  Stonehenge.  There  are  some 
of  these  things  which  I  can  never  forget.  In  proportion 
as  the  critical  bent  of  Emerson's  mind  is  strong,  and  as 
he  finds  a  great  want  in  human  beings,  and  in  things 
generally — measuring  them  by  his  ideal  standard,  is  his 
faith  strong  in  the  power  of  good,  and  its  ultimate  triumph 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  world.  And  he  understands 
perfectly  what  constitutes  noble  republicanism  and 


160  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Americanism,  and  what  a  nobly-framed  community  and 
social  intercourse.  But  the  principle,  the  vitalising,  the 
strengthening  source — yes,  that  Emerson  sees  merely  in 
the  pure  consciousness  of  man  himself !  He  helieves  in 
the  original  purity  and  glory  of  this  source,  and  will 
cleanse  away  everything  which  impedes  or  sullies  it — all 
conventionality,  untruth  and  paltriness. 

I  said  to  an  amiahle  woman,  a  sincere  friend  of 
Emerson's,  and  one  who,  at  the  same  time  is  possessed 
of  a  deeply  religious  mind,  "  How  can  you  love  him  so 
deeply  when  he  does  not  love,  nor  put  faith  in  the  Highest 
which  we  love?" 

"  He  is  so  faultless,"  replied  she,  "  and  then  he  is 
lovely!" 

Lovable  he  is,  also,  as  one  sees  him  in  his  home  and 
amid  his  domestic  relations.  But  you  shall  hear  more 
about  him  when  we  meet,  and  you  shall  see  his  strong 
beautiful  head  in  my  album,  among  many  American 
acquaintance.  I  feel  that  my  intercourse  with  him  will 
leave  a  deep  trace  in  my  soul.  I  could  desire  in  him 
warmer  sympathies,  larger  interest  in  such  social  ques 
tions  as  touch  upon  the  well-being  of  mankind,  and  more* 
feeling  for  the  suffering  and  the  sorrow  of  earth.  But 
what  right  indeed  has  the  flower  which  vibrates  with 
every  breath  of  wind  to  quarrel  with  the  granite-rock 
because  it  is  differently  made.  In  the  breast  of  such 
lie  strong  metals.  Let  the  brook  be  silent,  and  rejoice 
that  it  can  reflect  the  rock,  the  flowers,  the  firmament, 
and  the  stars,  and  grow  and  be  strengthened  by  the 
invisible  fountains,  which  are  nourished  by  the  moun 
tain-tops. 

But  I  must  give  you  a  specimen  or  two  of  Emerson's 
style,  and  of  his  manner  of  seeing  and  feeling  which  most 
please  me.  I  will  make  two  extracts  from  his  "  Essays," 
which  are  applicable  to  all  mankind,  to  all  countries,  and  to 
all  times,  and  which  are  portions  of,  or  drops  from  that  vein 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  161 

of  iron  ore  which  runs  through  everything  that  Emerson 
says  or  writes,  because  it  is  the  life  of  his  life. 
In  his  lecture  on  self-reliance,  he  says  : — 
"  To  believe  your  own  thought,  to  believe  that  which  is 
true  for  you  in  your  private  heart  is  true  for  all  men, — 
that  is  genius.  Speak  your  latent  conviction,  and  it  shall 
be  the  universal  sense ;  for  always  the  inmost  becomes 
the  outmost,  and  our  first  thought  is  rendered  back  to  us 
by  the  trumpets  of  the  last  judgment.  The  highest  merit 
which  we  ascribe  to  Moses,  Plato,  and  Milton,  is  that 
which  every  man  recognises  as  the  voice  of  his  own  soul, 
is  that  they  set  books  and  traditions  at  nought,  and  spoke 
not  what  men,  but  what  they  thought.  A  man  should 
learn  to  detect  and  watch  that  gleam  of  light  which 
flashes  across  his  mind  from  within,  more  than  the 
lustre  of  the  firmament  of  bards  and  sages.  Yet  he 
dismisses  without  notice  his  thought,  because  it  is  his. 
In  every  work  of  genius  we  recognise  our  own  rejected 
thoughts ;  they  come  back  to  us  with  a  certain  alienated 
majesty.  Great  works  of  art  have  no  more  affecting 
lesson  for  us  than  this.  They  teach  us  to  abide  by  our 
own  spontaneous  impression  with  good-humoured  inflexi 
bility,  then  most  when  the  whole  cry  of  voices  is  on  the 
other  side.  Else  to-morrow  a  stranger  will  say,  with 
masterly  good  sense,  precisely  what  we  have  thought  and 
felt  the  whole  time,  and  we  shall  be  forced  to  take  our 
own  opinion  from  another. 

#  #  *  # 

"  Trust  thyself;  every  heart  vibrates  to  that  iron  string. 
Accept  the  place  which  the  Divine  Providence  has  found 
for  you;  the  society  of  your  cpntemporaries,  the  con 
nection  of  events.  Great  men  have  always  done  so,  and 
confided  themselves,  childlike,  to  the  genius  of  their 
age,  betraying  their  perception  that  the  Eternal  was 
stirring  at  their  heart,  working  through  their  hands, 
predominating  in  all  their  being.  And  we  are  now  men, 

VOL.  I.  M 


162  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  must  accept  in  the  highest  mind  the  same  transcen 
dent  destiny ;  and,  not  pinched  in  a  corner,  not  cowards 
fleeing  before  a  revolution,  but  redeemers  and  benefactors, 
pious  aspirants  to  be  noble  clay,  plastic  under  the 
Almighty  effort,  let  us  advance  and  advance  on  Chaos 

the  Dark. 

#  *  *  * 

"  Whoso  would  be  a  man  must  be  a  nonconformist. 
He  who  would  gather  immortal  palms  must  not  be 
hindered  by  the  name  of  goodness,  but  must  explore 
if  it  be  goodness.  Nothing  is  at  last  sacred,  but  the 
integrity  of  your  own  mind.  Absolve  you  to  yourself, 
and  you  shall  have  the  suffrage  of  the  world. 

#  *  *  * 

"  A  foolish  consistency  is  the  hobgoblin  of  little  minds, 
adored  by  little  statesmen,  and  philosophers,  and  divines. 
With  consistency  a  great  soul  has  simply  nothing  to  do. 
Speak  out  what  you  think  to-day  in  words  as  hard  as 
cannon-balls,  and  to-morrow  speak  what  to-morrow  thinks 
in  hard  words  again,  though  it  contradict  everything  you 
said  to-day.  Ah,  then,  exclaim  the  aged  ladies,  you  shall 
be  sure  to  be  misunderstood.  Misunderstood  ?  It  is  a 
right  fool's  word.  Is  it  so  bad  then  to  be  misunderstood  ? 
Pythagoras  was  misunderstood ;  and  Socrates,  and  Jesus, 
and  Luther,  and  Copernicus,  and  Galileo,  and  Newton, 
and  every  pure  and  wise  spirit  that  ever  took  flesh.  To 
be  great  is  to  be  misunderstood. 

"  I  suppose  no  man  can  violate  his  nature.  All  the 
sallies  of  his  will  are  rounded  in  by  the  law  of  his  being, 
as  the  inequalities  of  Andes  and  Himmaleyah  are  insig 
nificant  in  the  curve  of  the  sphere.  We  pass  for  what 

we  are. 

#  *  #  * 

"  Fear  never  but  you  shall  be  consistent  in  whatever 
variety  of  actions,  so  they  be  each  honest  and  natural  in 
their  hour. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  163 

"  One  tendency  unites  them  all. 

*  *  *  * 

"  Perception  is  not  whimsical,  but  fatal.  If  I  see  a 
trait,  my  children  will  see  it  after  me,  and  in  course  of 
time  all  mankind, — although  it  may  chance  that  no  one 
has  seen  it  before  me.  My  perception  of  it  is  as  much  a 
fact  as  the  sun. 

"  The  relations  of  the  soul  to  the  Divine  Spirit  are  so 
pure  that  it  is  profane  to  seek  to  interpose  helps.  It 
must  be,  that  when  God  speaketh,  He  should  communicate 
not  one  thing,  but  all  things,  and  new-create  the  whole. 
Whenever  a  mind  is  simple,  and  receives  a  divine 
wisdom,  then  old  things  pass  away, — means,  teachers, 
texts,  temples  fall ;  all  things  are  made  sacred  by  relation 
to  it — one  thing  as  much  as  another. 

*  #  #  # 

"  Yet  see  what  strong  intellects  dare  not  yet  hear  God 
Himself,  unless  He  speak  the  phraseology  of  I  know  not 
what  David,  or  Jeremiah,  or  Paul. 

*  *  *  * 

"  If  wre  live  truly,  we  shall  see  truly.  "When  we  have 
new  perceptions  we  shall  gladly  disburden  the  memory 
of  its  inward  treasures  as  old  rubbish.  When  a  man  lives 
with  God,  his  voice  shall  be  as  sweet  as  the  murmur  of 
the  brook  and  the  rustle  of  the  corn. 

*  *  *  # 

"  This  is  the  ultimate  fact  which  we  so  quickly  reach  on 
this  as  on  every  topic,  the  resolution  of  all  into  the  Ever- 
blessed  One.  Virtue  is  the  governor,  the  creator,  the 
reality.  All  things  real  are  so  by  so  much  of  virtue  as 
they  contain. 

*  *  *  * 

"  Let  us  not  rove ;  let  us  sit  at  home  with  the  cause. 
Let  us  shun  and  astonish  the  intruding  rabble  of  men, 
and  books,  and  institutions,  by  a  simple  declaration  of 
the  divine  fact.  Bid  them  take  the  shoes  off  their  feet, 

M2 


164  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

for  God  is  here  within.  Let  our  simplicity  judge  them,  and 
our  docility  to  our  own  law  demonstrate  the  poverty  of 
nature  and  fortune,  beside  our  native  rulers. 
#  #  *  * 

"  We  must  go  alone.     I  like  the  silent  church  before 

o 

the  service  begins  better  than  any  preaching.  How  far 
off,  how  cool,  how  chaste  the  persons  look,  begirt  each 
one  with  a  precinct  or  sanctuary.  So  let  us  always  sit. 
*  *  But  your  isolation  must  not  be  mechanical,  but 
spiritual,  that  is,  must  be  devotion.  *  *  The  power 
which  men  possess  to  annoy  me  I  give  them  by  a  weak 
curiosity.  No  man  can  come  near  me  but  through  my 
own  act.  What  we  desire,  that  we  have ;  but  by  desire  we 
bereave  ourselves  of  the  love. 

"  If  we  cannot  at  once  rise  to  the  sanctities  of  obedience 
and  faith,  let  us  at  least  resist  our  temptations ;  let  us 
enter  into  the  state  of  war,  and  wake  Thor  and  Wodin, 
courage  and  constancy,  in  our  breast.  This  is  to  be  done 
in  our  smooth  times  by  speaking  the  truth.  Check  this 
lying  hospitality  and  lying  affection.  Live  no  longer  to 
the  expectation  of  those  deceived  and  deceiving  people 
with  whom  we  converse.  Say  to  them,  O  father !  O  mother ! 

0  wife  !    O   brother !    O  friend  !   I  have  lived  with   you 
after  appearances  hitherto.     Be  it  known  unto  you  that 
henceforward  I  obey  no  law  less  than  the  eternal  law.     I 
shall  endeavour  to  nourish  my  parents,  to  support  my 
family,  to  be  the  chaste  husband  of  one  wife, — but  these 
relations  I  must  fill  after  a  new  and  unprecedented  way. 

1  appeal  from  your  customs.    I  must  be  myself.    I  cannot 
break  myself  any  longer  for  you,  or  you.     If  you  can  love 
me  for  what  I  am,  we  shall  be  the  happier.  If  you  cannot, 
I  will  still  seek  to  deserve  that  you  should.     I  must  be 
myself.     I  will  not  hide  my  tastes  or  aversions.     I  will 
so  trust  that  what  is  deep  is  holy  that  I  will  do  strongly 
before  the  sun  and  moon  whatever  inly  rejoices  me  and 
my  heart  appoints.     If  you  are  noble  I  will  love  you ;  if 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  165 

you  are  not,  I  will  not  hurt  you  and  myself  by  hypo 
critical  attentions.  If  you  are  true,  but  not  in  the  same 
truth  with  me,  cleave  to  your  companions ;  I  will  seek  my 
own.  I  do  this  not  selfishly,  but  humbly  and  truly.  It 
is  alike  your  interest,  and  mine,  and  all  men's,  however 
long  we  have  dwelt  in  lies,  to  live  in  truth.  Does  this 
sound  harsh  to  say?  You  will  soon  love  what  is  dictated  by 
your  nature  as  well  as  mine ;  and  if  we  follow  the  truth  it 
will  bring  us  out  safe  at  last.  But  so  you  may  give  these 
friends  pain.  Yes ;  but  I  cannot  sell  my  liberty  to  save 
their  sensibility.  Besides,  all  persons  have  their  moments 
of  reason,  when  they  look  out  into  the  region  of  absolute 
truth ;  then  will  they  justify  me,  and  do  the  same 
thing. 

"  The  populace  think  that  your  rejection  of  popular 
standards  is  a  rejection  of  all  standard,  and  the  bold 
sensualist  will  use  the  same  philosophy  to  gild  his  crimes. 
But  the  law  of  consciousness  abides.  There  are  two 
confessionals,  in  one  or  the  other  of  which  we  must  be 
shriven.  You  may  fulfil  your  round  of  duties  by  clearing 
yourself  in  the  direct  or  in  the  reflex  way.  Consider 
whether  you  have  satisfied  your  relations  to  father, 
cousin,  neighbour,  town,  cat,  and  dog,  and  whether  any 
of  these  can  upbraid  you.  But  I  may  also  neglect 
this  reflex  standard,  and  absolve  me  to  myself.  I 
have  my  own  stern  claims  and  perfect  will.  It  denies 
the  name  of  duty  to  many  offices  that  are  called  duties. 
But  if  I  can  discharge  its  debts,  it  enables  me  to 
dispense  with  the  popular  code.  If  any  body  imagines 
that  this  law  is  lax,  let  him  keep  its  commandment  for 
one  day. 

"  And  truly  it  demands  something  godlike  in  him  who 
has  cast  off  the  common  motives  of  humanity,  and  has 
ventured  to  trust  himself  for  a  taskmaster.  High  be  his 
heart,  faithful  his  will,  clear  his  sight,  that  he  may  in 
good  earnest  be  doctrine,  society,  law  to  himself,  that  a 


166  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

simple  purpose  may  be  to  him  as  strong  as  iron  necessity 
to  others. 

"  If  any  man  consider  the  present  aspects  of  what  is 
called  by  distinction,  society,  he  will  see  the  need  of  these 
ethics." 

I  must  remark,  that  if  any  one  will  seriously  observe 
human  nature,  as  it  commonly  is,  he  will  easily  see 
that  a  moral  code,  such  as  Emerson's,  would  produce 
conceited  and  selfish  beings,  and  that  it  is  merely  calcu 
lated  for  natures  as  pure  and  beautiful  as  his  own,  and 
which  form  the  exception  to  the  general  rule.  That 
which  he  in  all  cases  mistakes  is  the  radical  duality  of 
human  nature.  Yet  with  what  freshness,  invigoration, 
does  not  this  exclamation  come  to  our  souls,  "  Be  true  ; 
be  yourself!  "  Especially  when  coming  from  a  man  who 
has  given  proofs  that  in  this  truth  a  human  being  may 
fulfil  all  his  human  duties,  as  son,  brother,  husband, 
father,  friend,  citizen.  But — a  true  Christian  does  all 
this,  and — something  more. 

I  must  give  you  two  examples  of  Emerson's  doctrines, 
as  relates  to  the  relationship  of  friend  with  friend,  and 
on  friendship  ;  because  they  accord  with  my  own  feelings, 
and  act  as  an  impulse  in  the  path  which  for  some  time 
I  have  chosen  for  myself. 

"  Friendship  requires  that  rare  mean  betwixt  likeness 
and  unlikeness  that  piques  each  with  the  presence  of 
power  and  of  consent  in  the  other  party.  Let  me  be 
alone  to  the  end  of  the  world,  rather  than  that  my  friend 
should  overstep  by  a  word  or  a  look  his  real  sympathy. 
I  am  equally  balked  by  antagonism  and  by  compliance. 
Let  him  not  cease  an  instant  to  be  himself.  The  only 
joy  I  have  in  his  being  mine  is  that  the  not  mine  is  mine. 
It  turns  the  stomach,  it  blots  the  daylight — when  I 
looked  for  a  manly  furtherance,  or,  at  least,  a  manly 
resistance — to  find  a  mush  of  concession.  Better  be  a 
nettle  in  the  side  of  your  friend  than  his  echo.  The 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  167 

condition  which  high  friendship  demands  is,  ability  to 
do  without  it.  To  be  capable  of  that  high  office  requires 
great  and  sublime  parts.  There  must  be  my  two  before 
there  can  be  my  one.  Let  it  be  an  alliance  of  two  large, 
formidable  natures,  mutually  beheld,  mutually  feared, 
before  yet  they  recognise  the  deep  identity  which  beneath 
their  disparities  unites  them. 

"He  is  only  fit  for  this  society  who  is  magnanimous. 
He  must  be  so  to  know  its  law.  He  must  be  one  who  is 
sure  that  greatness  and  goodness  are  always  economy, 
He  must  be  one  who  is  not  swift  to  intermeddle  with  his 
fortunes.  Let  him  not  dare  to  intermeddle  with  this. 
Leave  to  the  diamond  its  ages  to  grow,  nor  expect  to 
accelerate  the  births  of  the  eternal.  Friendship  demands 
a  religious  treatment.  We  must  not  be  wilful,  we  must 
not  provide.  We  talk  of  choosing  our  friends,  but  our 
friends  are  self- elected.  Reverence  is  a  great  part  of  it. 
Treat  your  friend  as  a  spectacle.  Of  course,  if  he  be 
a  man,  he  has  merits  that  are  not  yours,  and  that  you 
cannot  honour.  If  you  must  needs  hold  him  close  to 
your  person,  stand  aside — give  those  merits  room — let 
them  mount  and  expand.  Be  not  so  much  his  friend 
that  you  can  never  know  his  peculiar  energies,  like  fond 
mammas  who  shut  up  their  boy  in  the  house  until  he 
has  almost  grown  a  girl.  Are  you  the  friend  of  your 
friend's  buttons  or  of  his  thought  ?  To  a  great  heart  he 
will  still  be  a  stranger  in  a  thousand  particulars,  that  he 
may  come  near  in  the  holiest  ground.  Leave  it  to  boys 
and  girls  to  regard  a  friend  as  a  property,  and  to  suck  a 
short  and  all- confounding  pleasure  instead  of  the  pure 

nectar  of  God. 

*  #  #  # 

"A  friend  is  a  person  with  whom  I  may  be  sincere. 
Before  him  I  may  think  aloud.  I  am  arrived  at  last  in 
the  presence  of  a  man  so  real,  so  equal,  that  I  may  drop 
even  those  undermost  garments  of  dissimulation,  courtesy, 


168  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  second  thought,  which  men  never  put  off,  and  may 
deal  with  him  with  the  simplicity  and  wholeness  with 
which  one  chemical  atom  meets  another. 

*  #  *  * 

"  Let  us  huy  our  entrance  to  this  guild  by  a  long 
probation.  Why  should  we  desecrate  noble  and  beautiful 
souls  by  intruding  on  them  ?  Why  insist  on  rash  per 
sonal  relations  with  your  friend  ?  Why  go  to  his  house, 
and  know  his  mother,  and  brother,  and  sisters  ?  Why  be 
visited  by  him  at  your  own  ?  Are  these  things  material 
to  our  covenant  ?  Leave  this  touching  and  clawing.  Let 
him  be  to  me  as  a  spirit.  A  message,  a  thought,  a  sincerity, 
a  glance  from  him  I  want ;  but  not  news  nor  pottage. 
I  can  get  politics,  and  chat,  and  neighbourly  conveniences 
from  cheaper  companions.  Should  not  the  society  of 
my  friend  be  to  me  poetic,  pure,  universal,  and  quiet  as 
Nature  herself  ?  Ought  I  to  feel  that  our  tie  is  profane 
in  comparison  with  yonder  bar  of  cloud  that  sleeps  on 
the  horizon,,  or  that  clump  of  waving  grass  that  divides 
the  brook  ?  Let  us  not  vilify,  but  raise  it  to  that 

standard. 

*  *  *  * 

"Worship  his  superiorities.  Wish  him  not  less  by  a 
thought,  but  hoard  and  tell  him  all.  Guard  him  as  thy 
great  counterpart  ;  have  a  princedom  to  thy  friend.  Let 
him  be  to  thee  for  ever  a  sort  of  beautiful  enemy,  untame- 
able,  devoutly  revered,  and  not  a  trivial  conveniency  to  be 
soon  outgrown  and  cast  aside. 

*  *  *  * 

"  What  is  so  great  as  friendship,  let  us  carry  with  what 
grandeur  of  spirit  we  can.  Let  us  be  silent,  so  we  may  hear 
the  whisper  of  the  gods.  Let  us  not  interfere.  Who  set  you 
to  cast  about  what  you  should  say  to  the  select  souls,  or  to 
say  anything  to  such  ?  No  matter  how  ingenious,  no 
matter  how  graceful  and  bland.  There  are  innumerable 
degrees  of  folly  and  wisdom  ;  and  for  you  to  say  aught  is 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  169 

to  be  frivolous.  Wait,  and  thy  soul  shall  speak.  Wait 
until  the  necessary  and  everlasting  overpowers  you,  until 
day  and  night  avail  themselves  of  your  lips. 

*  #  #  # 

"  Vain  to  hope  to  come  nearer  to  a  man  by  getting  into 
his  house.  If  unlike,  his  soul  only  flies  the  faster 
from  you,  and  you  shall  catch  never  a  true  glance  of  his 
eye.  We  see  the  noble  afar  off,  and  they  repel  us  ;  why 
should  we  intrude  ?  Late — very  late — we  perceive  that 
no  antagonism,  no  introduction,  no  consuetudes,  or  habits 
of  society,  should  be  of  any  avail  to  establish  us  in  such 
relations  with  them  as  we  desire, — but  solely  the  uprise 
of  nature  in  us  to  the  same  degree  it  is  in  them,  then 
shall  we  meet  as  water  with  water ;  and  if  we  should 
not  meet  them  then,  we  shall  not  want  them,  for  we  are 

already  they. 

*  *  *  * 

"  Only  be  admonished  by  what  you  already  see,  not  to 
strike  leagues  of  friendship  with  cheap  persons  where  no 
friendship  can  be.  Our  impatience  betrays  us  into  rash 
and  foolish  alliances  which  no  God  attends.  By  persist 
ing  in  your  path,  though  you  forfeit  the  little,  you  gain 
the  great.  You  become  pronounced.  You  demonstrate 
yourself  so  as  to  put  yourself  out  of  the  reach  of  false 
relations,  and  you  draw  to  you  the  first-born  of  the 
world — those  rare  pilgrims  whereof  only  one  or  two 
wander  in  nature  at  once,  and  before  whom  the  vulgar 
great  show  as  spectres  and  shadows  merely. 

*  *  *  * 

"  It  has  seemed  to  me  lately  more  possible  than  I  knew 
to  carry  a  friendship  greatly  on  one  side,  without  the 
correspondence  of  the  other.  Why  should  I  cumber 
myself  with  the  poor  fact  that  the  receiver  is  not  capa 
cious  ?  It  never  troubles  the  sun  that  some  of  his  rays 
fall  wide  and  vain  into  ungrateful  space,  and  only  a 
small  part  on  the  reflecting  planet.  Let  your  greatness 


172  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

have  they  produced  results  which  are  so.     The  aim — the 
intention,  is  the  best  part  of  them. 

Emerson  says  in  his  characteristics  of  transcendentalism : 
"  If  there  is    anything   grand   and   daring   in  human 
thought  or  virtue  ;  any  reliance  on  the  vast,  the  unknown  ; 
any  presentiment — an  extravagance  of  faith — the  spirit 
ualist  adopts  it  as  highest  in  nature. 

*  *  *  * 

"  These  youths  bring  us  a  rough  but  effectual  aid.  By 
their  unconcealed  dissatisfaction,  they  expose  our  poverty 
and  the  insignificance  of  man  to  man. 

*  #  *  * 

"  These  exacting  children  advertise  us  of  our  wants. 
There  is  no  compliment,  no  smooth  speech  with  them ; 
they  pay  you  only  this  one  compliment  of  insatiable 
expectation  ;  they  aspire,  they  severely  exact ;  and  if  they 
stand  fast  in  this  watch-tower,  and  persist  in  demanding 
to  the  end,  and  without  end,  then  are  they  terrible  friends, 
whereof  poet  and  priest  cannot  choose  but  stand  in 
awe ;  and  what  if  they  eat  clouds  and  drink  wind,  they 
have  not  been  without  service  to  the  race  of  man. 

*  #  #  * 

"  When  every  voice  is  raised  for  a  new  road,  or  another 
statute ;  or  a  subscription  of  stock ;  for  an  improvement 
in  dress,  or  in  dentistry ;  for  a  new  house  or  a  large  busi 
ness  ;  for  a  political  party,  or  a  division  of  an  estate — 
will  you  not  tolerate  one  or  two  solitary  voices  in  the 
land,  speaking  for  thoughts  and  principles  not  marketable 
or  perishable  ?  Soon  these  improvements  and  mechanical 
inventions  will  be  superseded;  these  modes  of  living 
lost  out  of  memory ;  these  cities  rotted,  ruined  by  war, 
—by  new  inventions — by  new  seats  of  trade,  or  the 
geologic  changes  ; — all  gone,  like  the  shells  which  sprinkle 
the  sea-beach  with  a  wrhite  colony  to-day — for  ever  re 
newed,  to  be  for  ever  destroyed.  But  the  thoughts  which 
these  few  hermits  strove  to  proclaim  by  silence,  as  well 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  173 

as  by  speech,  not  only  by  what  they  did,  but  by  what 
they  forbore  to  do,  shall  abide  in  beauty  and  strength, 
to  re-organize  themselves  in  nature,  to  invest  them 
selves  anew  in  other,  perhaps  higher- endowed  and 
happier-mixed  clay  than  ours,  in  fuller  union  with  the 
surrounding  system." 

Thus  says  the  noble  idealist;  and  perhaps  I  have 
quoted  too  much  from  him,  when  I  cannot  at  the  same 
time  show  you  what  he  is — because  this  is  the  most 
remarkable  thing  in  him.  I  have  nothing  against  his 
children — the  transcendentalists ;  it  is  a  refreshment 
both  to  hear  and  to  see  them,  and  they  utter  many  a 
forgotten  truth  with  new  life.  They  are  the  element 
of  youth  in  life,  and  always  produce  a  renovating  effect, 
and  they  behold  many  a  beauty  which  older  eyes  are  no 
longer  clear  enough  to  perceive.  I  remember  to  have 
heard  that  Schelling  would  not  take  as  pupils  young  men 
above  five -and- twenty  years  of  age.  He  considered  them 
after  that  age  not  to  be  so  capable,  not  to  be  possessed 
of  immediate  perception  and  insight.  But  when  these 
young  pagan  alp-natures  say,  "  We  have  reached  to  the 
highest ! "  then,  I  say,  "  Nonsense !  you  have  done 
nothing  of  the  kind !  You  say,  '  We  are  gods.'  I  say, 
'Descend  from  your  elevation  to  the  divinely  made 
world,  then  will  I  believe  you.'  You  satisfy  yourselves 
with  your  lofty,  isolated  position,  believing  that  you  do 
enough  by  showing  the  ideal.  Ah !  the  ideal  has  never 
been  unknown  !  You  are  poor,  sinful,  imperfect  human 
creatures,  like  the  rest,  and  your  bravery  does  not  come 
up  to  the  heart  of  Christianity,  which  does  not  merely 
exhibit  the  ideal,  but  helps  to  attain  it ;  not  merely 
suffers  all,  but  overcomes  all ;  does  not  sit  still  and  look 
grandly  forth,  but  combats  with  its  followers,  admonish 
ing  them  to  overcome  evil  with  good  !  " 

If  the  transcendentalists  will  really  create  a  new,  a 
transcendental  state,  then  they  must  create  a  something 


174  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

beyond  that ;  they  must,  in  their  ideal  man,  present  a 
more  beautiful  figure  than  that  which  has  already  been 
presented  on  earth  and  for  earth — the  powerful,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  humble  son  of  heaven  and  earth,  uniting 
both  in  one  new  creation.  But — they  cannot  even  under 
stand  the  beauty  of  this. 

But  enough  of  the  transcendentalists.  I  must,  how 
ever,  say  a  few  words  about  a  lady  who  belongs  to  this 
sect,  and  whose  name  I  have  frequently  heard  since  I 
came  to  America,  partly  with  blame,  partly  with  praise, 
but  always  with  a  certain  degree  of  distinction,  namely 
Margaret  Fuller.  Although  devoid  of  beauty,  and  rather 
disagreeable  than  agreeable  in  her  manners,  she  seems 
to  be  gifted  with  singular  talents,  and  to  have  an  actual 
genius  for  conversation.  Emerson,  speaking  with 
admiration  of  her  powers,  said,  "  Conviction  sits  upon 
her  lips."  Certain  it  is  that  I  have  never  heard  of  a 
woman  in  this  country  possessed  of  such  ability  for 
awakening  enthusiasm  in  the  minds  of  her  friends. 
Emerson  said  of  her,  with  his  usual  almost  alarming 
candour,  "  She  has  many  great  qualities ;  many  great 
faults  also." 

Among  these  latter  appear  to  be  her  arrogance  and  her 
contemptuous  manner  towards  others  less  gifted  than  her 
self.  I  have  also  heard  that  she  could  repent  of  and  ask 
pardon  for  severe  words.  In  haughtiness  and  independ 
ence  of  temper,  in  pride  and  honesty,  and  in  critical 
asperity,  she  was  perfectly  a  transcendentalist  ?  The 
"  Conversations  "  which  she  at  one  time  gave  in  a  select 
circle  at  Boston,  are  spoken  of  as  of  the  highest  interest. 
Mrs.  Emerson  cannot  sufficiently  praise  her  fervent 
eloquence  and  the  extraordinary  affluence  of  her  mind, 
and — I  believe — half  reproaches  me  for  not  being  like 
her. 

Margaret  Fuller  went  to  Italy  with  my  friends,  the 
S s,  about  two  years  since,  and  remained  there  when 


HOMES  OF  THE  XEW  WORLD.  175 

they  left.  A  report  has  now  reached  this  country  that 
she  has  connected  herself  with  a  young  man  (she  herself 
is  no  longer  young,  heing  upwards  of  forty) ;  and  a 
Fourrierist,  or  Socialist  marriage,  without  the  external 
ceremony,  is  spoken  of;  certain  it  is  that  the  marriage 
remained  secret,  and  that  she  has  a  child,  a  boy.  She 
herself  has  written  about  it,  and  about  her  maternal  joy, 
but  not  anything  about  her  marriage,  merely  that  she 
shall  relate  what  farther  concerns  her  when  she  returns 
to  America,  which  will  be  next  year.  All  this  has 
furnished  subject  for  much  conversation  among  her 
friends  and  her  enemies.  They  who  loved  neither 
herself  nor  her  turn  of  mind  believe  the  worst;  but  I 
shall  never  forget  with  what  zeal  one  of  her  friends, 
Mr.  W.  R.,  defended  her  on  one  occasion  in  com 
pany,  and  that  merely  on  the  ground  that  her  character 
repelled  every  suspicion  of  any  action  which  might  cast 
a  stain  upon  it.  Her  friends  at  Concord — among  these 
the  Emersons,  Elizabeth  H.,  and  a  younger  sister  of 
Margaret  Fuller,  married  in  Concord — seemed  perfectly 
easy  with  regard  to  her  conduct,  and  convinced  that  it 
will  justify  itself  in  the  open  light  of  day.  This  is 
beautiful. 

Margaret  Fuller  has  in  her  writings  asserted  the  right 
of  woman  to  her  own  free  development,  and  to  liberty  in 
many  cases  where,  although  conformable  to  the  strictest 
moral  code,  it  would  yet  be  offensive  to  many  even  in  this 
so-called  free  country.  Her  friends,  and  among  these  the 

excellent,  pure -hearted  S s,  wish  me  to  become 

acquainted  with  her. 

"Ah!  you  must  see  Mrs.  Ripley,"  said  Emerson,  on 
one  occasion,  with  his  fine  smile ;  "  she  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  persons  in  Concord." 

And  I  saw  a  handsome,  elderly  lady,  with  silver-white 
hair,  clear,  deep  blue  eyes,  as  of  the  freshest  youth,  a 
very  womanly  demeanour,  from  which  nobody  could  sur- 


176  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

mise  that  she  reads  Greek  and  Latin,  and  understands 
mathematics,  like  any  professor,  and  helps  young  students, 
who  cannot  pass  their  examination  in  these  branches  of 
knowledge,  by  her  extraordinary  talent  as  a  teacher,  and 
by  her  motherly  influence.  Many  a  youth  blesses  the 
work  she  has  done  in  him.  One  of  these  related  of  her, 
"  She  examined  me  in  Euclid  whilst  she  shelled  peas,  and 
with  one  foot  rocked  the  cradle  of  her  little  grandson." 

I  spent,  with  the  Emersons,  an  evening  with  Mrs. 
Ripley.  Neither  were  there  any  servants  kept  in  her 
house.  These  ladies  of  New  England  are  clever  ladies, 
true  daughters  of  those  pilgrim  women  who  endured 
hardships  so  manfully  and  laboured  equally  with  their 
husbands,  and  established  with  them  that  kingdom  which 
now  extends  over  a  hemisphere. 

An  ancestor  of  Elizabeth  H.  was  one  of  the  first 
pilgrims  which  that  little  ship,  the  "  Mayflower,"  con 
veyed  to  the  shore  of  Massachussetts.  He  related 
many  times  how,  when  these  men  were  about  to  frame 
laws  for  the  new  colony,  they  liked  to  talk  them  over 
before  their  wives,  their  sisters,  and  daughters,  and  to 
hear  their  thoughts  upon  them.  This  was  beautiful  and 
sensible.  Of  a  certainty  that  chivalric  sentiment  and 
love  which  generally  prevail  in  America  for  the  female 
sex  had  their  origin  in  the  dignity  and  the  noble  conduct 
of  those  early  women ;  of  a  certainty,  from  that  e'arly 
equality,  that  equality  in  rule  and  in  rights  which  pre 
vails  here  in  domestic  and  social  life,  although  not  as  yet 
politically. 

I  liked  to  talk  with  Elizabeth  H.  There  is  something 
very  profound  and  great  in  this  young  woman ;  and 
her  words  frequently  are  as  brilliant  as  diamonds  in 
sunshine. 

Among  the  persons  whom  I  saw  at  the  Emersons,  and 
who  interested  me,  was  Professor  Sherbe,  a  Swiss,  a 
man  of  a  noble  and  grave  exterior,  with  something  also 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  177 

of  ultra-idealism  in  his  philosophy.  He  has  fought 
against  the  Jesuits  in  Switzerland,  and  is  now  a  teacher 
and  lecturer  in  America.  Lastly,  I  made  the  acquaint 
ance  of  a  Doctor  Jackson,  the  discoverer  of  the  somnific 
effects  of  ether  on  the  human  frame  and  consciousness, 
and  for  which  he  received  a  medal  from  our  King  Oscar, 
which  was  shown  to  me.  He  made  the  discovery  entirely 
by  accident,  as  he  has  described.  I  congratulated  him 
on  having  thus  become  the  means  of  an  infinite  blessing 
to  millions  of  suffering  beings. 

I  left  Concord  accompanied  by  this  gentleman,  who 
is  brother  to  Mrs.  Emerson.  But  Concord  did  not  leave 
my  memory;  its  snow-covered  scenery;  its  blue,  clear 
sky ;  its  human  beings  ;  its  transcendentalists  : — all  that 
I  had  experienced,  heard  and  seen  in  Concord,  and 
most  of  all,  its  sphinx  (as  Maria  Lowell  calls  Emerson), 
these  all  form  a  sort  of  alpine  region  in  my  mind  which 
has  a  power  of  fascination  for  me,  and  to  which  I  shall 
long  to  return  as  to  the  scenes  and  sights  of  my  native 
land. 

When  I  reached  home  last  evening  I  found  Marcus 
S.,  who  had  come  hither  on  business.  It  was  a 
heart-felt  joy  to  me,  to  see,  once  more,  that  excellent, 
good  friend.  After  I  had  spent  an  hour  in  conversing 
with  him  and  Mr.  Suinner,  I  went  with  Marcus  to  Alcott's 
concluding  "Conversation,"  where  several  pre-arranged 
topics  with  regard  to  diet  and  its  importance  to  humanity, 
were  discussed.  Alcott  maintained  that  all  high  and  holy 
teachers  of  the  human  race  had  paid  great  attention  to  diet, 
and  in  particular  had  abstained  from  flesh.  Some  one  said 
that  Christ  had  eaten  flesh.  Another  said  that  that  could 
not  be  proved.  A  third  said  that  he,  at  all  events,  had 
eaten  fish.  I  said  that  that  stood  written  in  the  Gospels. 
A  second  agreed.  "No  matter,"  said  Alcott,  "I  know 
better  than  to  eat  fish." 

The  man  is  incorrigible.      He  drinks  too  much  water, 

VOL.  I.  N 


178  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  brings  forth  merely  hazy  and  cloudy  shapes.  He 
should  drink  wine  and  eat  meat,  or  at  least,  fish,  so 
that  there  might  be  marrow  and  substance  in  his  ideas. 
Marcus,  too,  was  amused  at  the  Conversation,  but  in 
his  quiet  way.  Among  the  audience  were  some  ladies 
with  splendid,  intelligent  foreheads,  and  beautiful  forms. 
But  I  did  not  hear  them  say  a  word :  I  wonder  how  they 
could  sit  still  and  listen  in  silence ;  for  my  part,  I 
could  not  do  it.  And,  although  the  company  were 
invited  to  a  new  series  of  Conversations,  this  of  a 
certainty  will  be  the  last  at  which  I  shall  be  present. 

January  %6th. — Alcott  came  to  me  yesterday  afternoon  ; 
we  conversed  for  two  hours ;  he  explained  himself  better 
during  our  dialogue  than  in  his  public  Conversation, 
and  I  understood  better  than  hitherto  that  there  was 
really  at  the  bottom  of  his  reform -movement  a 
true  and  excellent  thought.  This  thought  is  the  im 
portance  of  an  earnest  and  holy  disposition  of 
mind  in  those  who  enter  into  the  bonds  of  wedlock, 
so  that  the  union  may  be  noble,  and  its  offspring 
good  and  beautiful.  His  plans  for  bringing  about  these 
beautiful  and  holy  marriages  between  good  and  beautiful 
people  (for  none  other  are  to  enter  into  matrimony 
— oh  !  oh !  for  the  many ! )  may  be  right  for  aught  I 
know.  They  are  better  and  more  accordant  to  human 
nature  than  those  of  Plato  for  the  same  purpose.  But 
who  will  deny  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  world  if 
they  who  cause  human  beings  to  be  born  into  the  world 
did  it  with  a  higher  consciousness,  with  a  deeper 
sentiment  of  responsibility.  Marriage,  looked  at  with 
reference  to  this  subject,  stands  in  general  very  low. 
A  man  and  woman  marry  to  be  happy,  selfishly  happy, 
and  beyond  that  the  thought  seldom  extends  ;  does  not 
elevate  itself  to  the  higher  thought — "we  shall  give 
life  to  immortal  beings !  "  And  yet,  this  is  the 
highest  purport  of  marriage.  Married  couples  who 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  179 

have  not  offspring  of  their  own  may  fulfil  its  duties 
by  adopting  orphan  children. 

"  But  why  do  you  not  enunciate  these  views  fully  ?  " 
inquired  I  from  Alcott :  "  they  are  of  higher  importance 
than  any  I  have  heard  during  your  Conversations,  and 
are  really  of  the  highest  importance  to  society." 

Alcott  excused  himself  by  the  difficulty  of  treating 
such  a  subject  in  public  conversation,  and  spoke  of 
the  intention  he  had  of  realising  his  views  in  the  for 
mation  of  a  little  society,  in  which,  I  presume,  he  would 
act  as  high-priest.  Again  a  dream.  But  the  dreamer 
has  risen  considerably  in  my  estimation  by  the  reality 
and  the  nobility  of  his  views  on  this  subject.  I  will  even 
excuse  his  whim  about  diet,  with  the  exception  of  its 
exclusiveness.  I  adhere  to  that  system,  which,  without 
the  one-sidedness  of  this  and  the  continued  use  of  wine 
and  all  other  of  God's  good  gifts,  yet  still  cries  aloud 
to  mankind, — "  Take  heed  ye  be  not  overtaken  by  gluttony 
and  drunkenness." 

Alcott  gave  me  two  books.  They  contain  conversations 
which  took  place  between  him  and  various  children 
during  a  period  when  he  had  a  school  —  which  was 
intended  to  be  "the  School,"  par  excellence.  Alcott's 
main  point  in  the  education  of  children  is  to  awaken  their 
higher  nature  and  to  give  them  a  high  esteem  for  it,  so 
that  they  may  love  it  and  always  act  in  accordance  with 
it.  He,  therefore,  early  places  before  their  eyes  the 
human-ideal,  or  the  ideal-human  being  in  Jesus  Christ. 
On  every  occasion  of  the  children's  assembling,  Alcott 
began  his  instruction  by  reading  aloud  a  chapter  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  When  this  was  ended,  he  asked 
the  children ;  what  was  in  your  thoughts,  or  in  your  soul, 
whilst  you  heard  this?  "  Many  of  the  replies  were  very 
naive. 

After  this  Alcott  led  them  to  consider  what  virtue 
had  been  exhibited  in  the  narrative,  or  the  incident  which 

N2 


180  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

they  had  just  heard,  and  also  to  name  its  opposite,  and 
to  think  whether  they  discovered  it  in  themselves,  and 
so  on.  Much  that  was  excellent  and  worthy  of  reflection 
was  thus  brought  forward,  and  the  whole  was  calculated 
for  the  child's  development.  Many  a  word  of  dewy, 
primeval  freshness  proceeded  from  those  childish  lips, 
but  also  much  that  was  childish  and  unsatisfactory  both 
from  child  and  teacher.  In  any  case,  this  is  a  method 
which,  though  it  would  not  answer  in  schools  of  any 
extent,  is  one  which  every  mother  ought  to  reflect  upon. 

"  What  was  there  in  your  soul,  in  your  heart  ?  "  What 
might  not  loving  lips  call  forth  in  the  child's  conscious 
ness,  to  the  child's  memory,  by  these  words,  spoken  in  the 
evening  after  the  day's  schooling,  work,  play,  sorrow, 
and  joy  ! 

When  Alcott  was  gone,  Emerson  came  and  remained  a 
good  hour  with  me.  He  is  iron,  even  as  the  other  is 
water.  And  yet,  nevertheless,  his  world  floats  in  an 
element  of  disintegration,  and  has  no  firm  unwavering 
shapes.  Wonderful  is  it  how  so  powerful  and  concrete  a 
nature  as  his  can  be  satisfied  with  such  disintegrated 
views.  I  can  find  fault  with  Emerson's  mode  of  thought, 
but  I  must  bow  before  his  spirit  and  his  nature.  He 
was  now  on  his  way  to  New  York,  where  he  was  invited 
to  give  a  course  of  lectures.  He  has  promised,  when  he 
returns  again,  to  visit  me.  I  must  sometime  have  a 
more  thorough  conversation  with  him,  as  well  on  religious 
subjects  as  on  the  future  prospects  of  America.  I  feel 
also  a  little  desire  for  combat  with  him.  For  I  never  see 
a  lion  in  human  form  without  feeling  my  lion-heart  beat. 
And  a  combat  with  a  spirit  like  that  is  always  a  pleasure 
even  if  one  wins  no  victory. 

As  regards  Alcott,  I  do  not  know  what  spirit  of  con 
tradiction  makes  me  continually  excited  by  him,  as  well 
as  to  amuse  myself  with  him.  I  sincerely  appreciate, 
however,  the  beautiful  aims  of  the  excellent  idealist,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  181 

I  like,  when  I  say  anything  against  him,  to  hear 
Emerson's  deep  voice  saying,  reproachfully,  "  Amid  all 
the  noise  and  stir  of  the  present  clay  for  outward  and 
material  aims,  cannot  you  bear  to  hear  one  or  two  indivi 
dual  voices  speaking  for  thoughts  and  principles  which 
are  neither  saleable  nor  yet  transitory  ?  " 

Ah,  yes  !     If  they  were  but  a  little  more  rational. 

I  was  this  evening  at  a  large  party  of  the  Boston 
fashionables,  at  Mrs.  B.'s.  I  felt  quite  well ;  the 
company  was  handsome,  elegant,  very  polite,  and  the 
evening  was  agreeable  to  me.  Another  evening  I  was  at 
another  great  fashionable  party  in  another  house.  I  did 
not  feel  well,  and  the  company  seemed  to  me  rather 
splendid  and  aristocratic  than  agreeable.  I  saw  here  a 
couple  of  figures  such  as  I  did  not  look  for  in  the 
drawing-rooms  of  the  New  World,  and,  least  of  all,  among 
the  women  of  New  England,  so  puffed  up  with  pride, 
so  unlovely — one  read  the  "  money-stamp,"  both  in  glance 
and  figure.  I  was  told  that  Mrs.  -  -  and  her  sister 
had  spent  a  year  in  Paris ;  they  ought  to  have  brought 
thence  a  little  Parisian  grace  and  common-sense,  as  well 
as  fashion.  People  who  are  arrogant  on  account  of  their 
wealth,  are  about  equal  in  civilisation  with  our  Lap 
landers,  who  measure  a  man's  worth  by  the  number  of 
his  reindeer.  A  man  with  one  thousand  reindeer  is  a 
very  great  man.  The  aristocracy  of  wealth  is  the  lowest 
and  commonest  possible.  Pity  is  it  that  it  is  met  with 
in  the  New  World  more  than  it  ought  to  be.  One  can 
even,  in  walking  through  the  streets,  hear  the  expression, 
"  He  is  worth  so  many  dollars  !  "  But  the  best  people 
here  despise  such  expressions.  They  would  never  defile 
the  lips  of  Marcus  S.,  Channing,  or  Mr.  Downing. 
And  as  regards  the  fashionable  circles,  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  they  are  not  considered  the  highest 
here.  One  hears  people  spoken  of  here  as  being  "  above 
fashion,"  and  by  this  is  meant  people  of  the  highest 


182  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

class.  It  is  clear  to  me  that  there  is  here  an  aristocracy 
forming  itself  by  degrees  which  is  much  higher  than  that 
of  birth,  property,  or  position  in  society ;  it  is  really  the 
aristocracy  of  merit,  of  amiability,  and  of  character.  But 
it  is  not  yet  general.  It  is  merely  as  yet  a  little  handful. 
But  it  grows,  and  the  feeling  on  the  subject  grows  also. 

I  have  been  to  a  charming  little  dinner  at  Professor 
How's,  where  I  met  Laura  Bridgeman.  She  is  now 
twenty ;  has  a  good,  well-developed  figure,  and  a  coun 
tenance  which  may  be  called  pretty.  She  wears  a  green 
bandage  over  her  eyes.  When  she  took  my  hand,  she 
made  a  sign  that  she  regarded  me  to  be  a  child.  One 
of  the  first  questions  which  she  asked  me  was,  "  How 
much  money  I  got  for  my  books  ?  "  A  regular  Yankee 
question,  which  greatly  delighted  my  companions,  who, 
nevertheless,  prevented  its  being  pressed  any  further.  I 
asked  Laura,  through  the  lady  who  always  attends  her, 
if  she  were  happy  ?  She  replied  with  vivacity,  and  an 
attempt  at  a  sound  which  proved  that  she  could  not 
sufficiently  express  how  happy  she  was.  She  appears 
indeed  to  be  almost  always  gay  and  happy ;  the  unceas 
ing  kindness  and  attention  of  which  she  is  the  object, 
prevents  her  from  having  any  mistrust  of  mankind,  and 
enables  her  to  live  a  life  of  affection  and  confidence. 
Dr.  How,  one  of  those  dark  figures  whom  Alcott 
would  regard  as  offspring  of  the  night ;  that  is  to  say, 
with  dark  complexion,  dark  eyes,  black  hair,  and  a 
splendid  energetic  countenance,  but  with  a  sallow  com 
plexion  ;  is  universally  known  for  his  ardent  human 
love,  which  induced  him  to  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the 
Greeks  and  Poles,  and  finally  to  devote  himself  to  those 
whose  physical  senses  are  in  bonds.  His  acquaintance 
is  valuable  to  me,  for  his  own  sake,  though  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  enjoy  much  of  his  society.  He  appears,  like 
me,  to  suffer  from  the  climate  and  from  the  over-exciting 
nature  of  the  food  of  the  country.  His  wife  is  a  most 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  183 

charming  lady,  with  great  natural  gifts,  fine  education, 
and  great  freshness  of  character.  Two  lovely  little  girls, 
red  and  white  as  milk  and  cherries,  as  soft  as  silk,  fresh 
and  fair  as  dew-drops,  even  in  their  dress,  came  in  at  the 
end  of  dinner,  and  clung  caressingly  around  the  dark, 
energetic  father.  It  was  a  picture  that  I  wished  Alcott 
could  have  seen. 

I  think  of  remaining  here  about  fourteen  days  longer,  to 
allow  the  homoeopathic  remedies  time  to  effect  their  work 
in  me.  My  good  Doctor  comes  to  me  every  day,  and 
it  is  a  joy  to  me  merely  to  see  him.  I  am  indescribably 
thankful  for  the  good  which  I  experience,  and  have 
experienced,  from  homoeopathy,  and  am  thinking  con 
tinually  how  good  it  would  be  for  you. 

Rich  I  certainly  shall  not  become  here,  my  sweet 
child,  because  I  have  here  neither  time  nor  inclination  to 
write  anything.  But  my  journey,  thanks  to  American 
hospitality,  will  not  cost  me  nearly  so  much  as  I 
expected.  And  if  some  of  my  friends  might  rule,  it 
would  not  cost  me  anything ;  I  should  live  and  travel  at 
the  expense  of  the  American  people — but  that  would 
be  too  much. 

It  is  horrible  weather  to-day — pouring  rain  and  strong 
wind.  I  was  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  being  left  at  peace 
in  consequence  of  the  weather,  but  I  was  not  able  to  say 
no  to  a  couple  of  visitors,  one  of  whom  had  called  with 
the  intention  of  taking  me  to  an  evening-party,  the  other 
to  ask  me  to  sit  for  my  portrait.  But  they  both  received 
a  negative. 

I  have  just  received  the  most  beautiful  bouquet 
from  a  young  lady-friend — a  great  number  of  beautiful 
small  flowers  arranged  in  the  cup  of  a  large  snow-white 
Calla  Ethiopica ; — and  but  few  days  pass  without  my 
receiving  beautiful  bouquets  of  flowers  from  known  or 
unknown  friends.  This  is  very  sweet  and  beautiful 
towards  a  stranger :  and  to  such  I  never  say  no,  but 


184  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

am  right   thankful  both  for  the  flowers  and  the  good 
will. 

Now  adieu  to  this  long  chatty  epistle,  and  a  hearty 
a  Dieu  to  my  little  friend. 


LETTEE  X. 

BOSTON,  February  1st. 

MOST  hearty  thanks  my  dear  little  heart  for  your  letter 
of  the  15th  of  December  :  it  is  so  inexpressibly  dear  to 
me  to  hear  and  see  how  things  are  at  home,  as  well  in  the 
little  as  the  great.  If  you  only  had  not  your  usual  winter 
complaint.  Ah  that  winter  !  but  I  am  glad  nevertheless 
that  you  feel  a  little  better  in  December  than  in  November, 
and  assure  myself  that  in  January  you  will  be  better  still. 
And  then  comes  the  prospect  of  summer  and  the  baths  of 
Marstrand.  Mamma  writes  that  you  were  evidently 
stronger  for  your  summer  visit  to  Marstrand.  And  you 
will  be  yet  stronger  still  after  your  next  summer's  visit. 
But  your  ideal — that  farm-yard  servant-girl,  who  took  the 
bull  by  the  horns,  when  will  you  come  up  to  that  ? 

My  strength  has  increased  considerably  for  some  time, 
thanks  to  my  excellent  Dr.  Osgood  and  his  little  nothing- 
powders  and  globules.  And  when  I  feel  myself  well  my 
soul  is  cheerful  and  well,  and  then  my  mind  is, full  of 
thoughts  which  make  me  happy;  then  I  am  glad  to  be  on 
the  Pilgrims'  soil ;  that  soil  which  the  Pilgrim -fathers  as 
they  are  here  called,  first  trod,  first  consecrated  as  the 
home  of  religious  and  civil  liberty,  and  from  winch  little 
band  the  intellectual  cultivation  of  this  part  of  the  world 
proceeds  and  has  proceeded. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  December,  1620,  when  the  little  ship, 
the  "Mayflower,"  anchored  on  the  shore  of  Massachussets, 
with  the  first  Pilgrims,  one  hundred  in  number.  They 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  185 

were  of  that  party  which  in  England  was  called  Puritan ; 
which  had  arisen  after  the  Reformation,  and  in  consequence 
of  it,  and  which  required  a  more  perfect  Reformation  than 
that  which  Luther  had  brought  about.  But  they  desired 
more;  to  give  full  activity  to  the  truth  which  Luther 
promulgated  when  he  asserted  man's  direct  relationship 
to  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  denying  any  right  of  the 
Church  or  of  tradition  to  interfere  in  the  determination  of 
that  which  should  be  believed  or  taught,  and  demanding 
liberty  for  every  human  being  to  examine  and  judge  for 
himself  in  matters  of  faith,  acknowledging  no  other  law 
or  authority  than  God's  Word  in  the  Bible.  The 
Puritans  demanded  on  these  grounds  their  right  to  reject 
the  old  ceremonial  of  the  Established  Church,  and  in  the 
place  of  those  empty  forms,  the  right  to  choose  their  own 
minister ;  the  right  to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
and  the  right  of  deciding  for  themselves  their  form  of 
Church  government.  Puritanism  was  the  rising  of  that 
old  divine  leaven  which  Christ  had  foretold  should  one 
day  "  leaven  the  whole  lump  "  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
liberty  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  charter  of  freedom  given  by 
him  was  the  watchword  of  the  Puritans.  With  this  in 
their  hand  and  on  their  lips  they  dared  to  enter  into 
combat  with  the  dominant  Episcopal  Church  ;  refused  to 
unite  themselves  with  it,  called  themselves  non-conform 
ists,  and  held  separate  assemblies  or  religious  conventicles. 
The  State  Church  and  the  government  rose  in  opposition 
and  passed  an  act  against  conventicles. 

But  the  Puritans  and  the  conventicles  increased  year 
by  year  in  England.  Noble  priests,  such  as  Wicliff,  and 
many  of  the  respectable  of  the  land,  became  their  adherents. 
Queen  Elizabeth  treated  them  however  with  caution  and 
respect.  Her  successor,  King  James,  raved  blindly 
against  them,  saying, — "  I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I 
will  harry  them  out  of  the  land ;  or  worse,  only  hang 
them ;  that  is  all !  "  And  the  choice  was  given  them ; 


186  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

either  to  return  to  the  State  Church,  or  imprisonment  and 
death.  This  only  strengthened  the  opposition ;  "  For," 
says  Thomas  Carlyle,  otherwise  tolerably  bitter  in  his 
criticism  on  human  nature,  "  people  do  human  nature  an 
injustice  when  they  believe  that  the  instigation  to  great 
actions  is  self-interest,  worldly  profit  or  pleasure.  No, 
that  which  instigates  to  great  undertakings,  and  produces 
great  things,  is  the  prospect  of  conflict,  persecution, 
suffering,  martyrdom,  for  the  truth's  sake." 

In  one  of  the  northern  counties  of  England,  a  little 
company  of  men  and  women,  inhabitants  of  small  towns 
and  villages,  united  in  the  resolve  to  risk  all  for  the  open 
acknowledgment  of  their  pure  faith,  conformably  with  the 
teachings  of  which  they  determined  to  live.  They  were 
people  of  the  lowest  condition,  principally  artisans  or 
tillers  of  the  soil ;  men  who  lived  by  the  hard  labour  of 
their  hands,  and  who  were  accustomed  to  combat  with  the 
severe  circumstances  of  life.  Holland  at  this  time  offered 
to  them,  as  it  did  to  all  the  oppressed  combatants  for  the 
truth,  a  place  of  refuge  ;  and  to  Holland  the  little  knot 
of  Puritans  resolved  to  flee.  They  escaped  from  their 
vigilant  persecutors  through  great  dangers,  and  Leyden 
in  Holland  became  their  city  of  refuge.  But  they  did  not 
prosper  there  ;  they  felt  that  it  was  not  the  place  for  them  ; 
they  knew  that  they  were  to  be  pilgrims  on  the  earth 
seeking  a  father-land  :  and  amid  their  struggles  with  the 
hard  circumstances  of  daily  life,  the  belief  existed  in 
their  souls  that  they  were  called  upon  to  accomplish  a 
higher  work  for  humanity  than  that  which  consisted  with 
their  present  lot.  "  They  felt  themselves  moved  by  zeal 
and  by  hope  to  make  known  the  Gospel  and  extend  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  far- distant  land  of  the  New 
World ;  yes,  if  they  even  should  be  merely  as  stepping- 
stones  for  others  to  carry  forth  so  great  a  work." 

They  asked,  and  after  great  difficulty  obtained,  the 
consent  of  the  English  government  to  emigrate  to  North 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  187 

America,  where  they  might  endeavour  to  labour  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  advantage  of  England. 

They  chartered  two  ships,  the  "  Mayflower "  and 
"  Speedwell,"  to  bear  them  across  the  sea.  Only  the 
youngest  and  strongest  of  the  little  band,  who  voluntarily 
offered  themselves,  were  selected  to  go  out  first  on  the 
perilous  voyage ;  and  that  after  they  had  publicly  prepared 
themselves  by  fasting  and  prayer.  "  Let  us,"  said  they, 
"  beseech  of  God  to  open  a  right  way  for  us  and  our  little 
ones,  and  for  all  our  substance  !  " 

Only  a  portion  of  those  who  had  gone  out  to  Holland 
found  room  in  the  two  vessels.  Among  those  who 
remained  was  also  their  noble  teacher  and  leader,  John 
Robinson.  But  from  the  shores  of  the  Old  World  he 
uttered,  as  a  parting  address,  these  glorious  words — 
"  I  charge  you,  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels,  that 
you  follow  me  no  farther  than  you  have  seen  me  follow 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Lord  has  yet  more  truth 
to  break  forth  out  of  his  Holy  Word.  I  cannot  suffi 
ciently  bewail  the  condition  of  the  reformed  churches 
who  are  come  to  a  period  in  religion,  and  will  go  no  farther 
at  present  than  the  instruments  of  their  reformation. 
Luther  and  Calvin  were  great  and  shining  lights  in  their 
times,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into  the  whole  counsel  of 
God.  I  beseech  you  remember  it — 'tis  an  article  of  your 
Church  covenant — that  you  be  ready  to  receive  whatever 
truth  shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  the  written  Word 
of  God." 

"  When  our  vessels  were  ready  to  receive  us  on  board," 
writes  one  of  the  party,  "  the  brethren  who  had  fasted 
and  prayed  with  us  gave  us  a  parting  feast  at  the  house 
of  our  minister,  which  was  roomy;  and  then,  after 
shedding  many  tears,  we  refreshed  ourselves  with  the 
singing  of  hymns,  making  joyful  music  in  our  hearts  as 
well  as  with  our  voices,  for  many  of  our  community  were 
very  skilful  in  music.  After  this  they  accompanied  us 


188  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

to  Dreft  Harbour,  where  we  were  to  go  on  board,  and 
there  we  were  entertained  anew.  And  after  our  minister 
had  prayed  with  us,  and  floods  of  tears  had  been  shed, 
they  accompanied  us  on  board.  But  we  were  in  no  con 
dition  to  talk  one  with  another  of  the  exceeding  great 
grief  of  parting.  From  our  vessel,  however,  we  gave 
them  a  salutation  ;  and  then  extending  our  hands  to  each 
other,  and  lifting  up  our  hearts  for  each  other  to  the 
Lord  our  God,  and  so  set  sail." 

A  prosperous  wind  quickly  conveyed  the  Pilgrims  to 
the  English  shore  ;  and  then  the  smallest  of  the  vessels, 
the  "  Speedwell,"  was  compelled  to  lie-to  for  repairs. 
But  scarcely  had  they  again  left  the  English  coast  with 
sails  unfurled  for  the  Atlantic,  when  the  captain  of  the 
"  Speedwell "  and  his  company  lost  courage  in  the 
prospect  of  the  greatness  of  the  undertaking  and  all  its 
perils,  and  desired  to  return  to  England.  The  people  of 
the  "  Mayflower  "  agreed  that  "  it  was  very  grievous  and 
discouraging."  And  now  the  little  band  of  resolute  men 
and  women,  several  of  the  latter  far  advanced  in  preg 
nancy,  persevered  in  their  undertaking,  and  with  their 
children  and  their  household  stuff,  an  entire  floating 
village,  they  sailed  onward  in  the  "  Mayflower  "  across  the 
great  sea  towards  the  New  World,  and  at  the  most 
rigorous  season  of  the  year.  After  a  stormy  voyage  of 
sixty-three  days,  the  Pilgrims  beheld  the  shores  of  the 
New  "World,  and  in  two  more  days  the  "  Mayflower " 
cast  anchor  in  the  harbour  of  Cape  Cod,  on  the  coast 
of  Massachussets. 

Yet,  before  they  land,  and  whilst  the  "  Mayflower  "  yet 
rests  upon  the  waves  of  the  deep,  they  assemble  to 
deliberate  on  some  constituted  form  of  government ;  and, 
drawing  up  the  following  compact,  they  formed  them 
selves  into  a  voluntary  body-politic. 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We,  whose  names  are 
underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  189 

King  James,  having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honour  of 
our  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony 
in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia,  do,  by  these  presents, 
solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  one  of 
another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a 
civil  body-politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preserva 
tion,  and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid  ;  and  by  virtue 
hereof,  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  and  equal 
laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions,  and  offices,  from 
time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the 
general  good  of  the  colony.  Unto  which  we  promise  all 
due  submission  and  obedience." 

This  instrument  was  signed  by  all  the  men  in  com- 
pairy,  forty-one  in  number.  Thus  was  framed,  in  the 
cabin  of  the  "  Mayflower,"  the  most  truly  democratic 
constitution  which  the  world  had  yet  seen.  That  demo 
cratic,  self-governing  community  came  forth  in  a  state  of 
complete  organisation  from  the  "  Mayflower  "  to  the  shore 
of  the  New  World. 

Like  Abraham,  the  pilgrim-band  went  forth,  obedient 
to  the  voice  of  God,  into  a  land  to  them  unknown, 
and  not  themselves  fully  cognisant  of  the  work  they 
were  called  to  do. 

They  went  forth  to  seek  a  free  virgin  soil  on  which  to 
found  their  pure  church,  for  the  glory  of  God's  kingdom, 
and  unconsciously  to  themselves,  likewise,  to  found,  in 
so  doing,  a  new  civil  community  which  should  be  a 
home  and  a  community  for  all  people  of  the  earth. 
The  "  Mayflower "  gave  birth  to  popular  constitutional 
liberty  at  the  same  time  that  it  established  the  pure 
vitality  of  religion  :  and  that  was  but  natural,  the  latter 
included  the  former.  The  Pilgrims  conveyed  with  them 
the  new  life  of  the  New  World  without  being  themselves 
conscious  of  it. 

They  landed  on  a  rock,  since  called  "  Plymouth  Eock," 


190  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

or,  also,  "  The  Pilgrims'  Rock."  It  was  a  young  girl 
who  was  first  permitted  to  spring  from  the  boat  on  shore. 
It  was  her  light  foot  which  first  touched  the  rock.  It 
was  at  the  commencement  of  winter  when  the  pilgrims 
reached  the  new  land;  and  they  were  met  by  cold, 
and  storm,  and  adverse  circumstances.  They  made  an 
excursion  of  discovery  inland,  and  found,  in  one  place,  a 
little  corn,  but  no  habitations,  only  Indian  graves. 

They  had  been  but  a  few  days  on  shore,  and  were 
beginning  to  build  habitations  as  a  defence  against  the 
storms  and  the  snow,  when  the  Sunday  occurred,  and  it  is 
characteristic  of  that  first  Puritan  community  that,  under 
their  circumstances,  they  rested  from  all  labour,  and  kept 
the  Sabbath  uninterruptedly  and  with  all  solemnity. 

I   have  lately  read   a    narrative,    or,   more    properly 
speaking,  a  chronicle,  kept  as  a  diary  of  the  life  of  the 
first  colonists,  their  wars    and  labours  during  the   first 
year    of   their    settlement.      It  is   a    simple    chronicle, 
without  any  wordiness  or  parade,  without  any  attempt  at 
making  it  romantic  or  beautiful,  but  which  affected  me 
more,  and  went  more  directly  to  the  depths  of  the  heart, 
than  many  a  touching  novel ;   and  which  seemed  to  me 
grander  than  many  a  heroic  poem.     For  how  great  in 
all  its  unpretendingness  was  this  life,  this  labour !     What 
courage,   what   perseverance,   what    steadfastness,    what 
unwavering  trust  in  that  little  band !     How  they  aided 
one  another,  these  men  and  women  ;  how  they  persevered 
though  all  sorrow  and  adversity,  in  life  and   in  death. 
They  lived  surrounded  by  dangers,  in  warfare  with  the 
natives  ;   they  suffered  from  climate,  from  the  want   of 
habitations  and  conveniences,   from   the   want   of  food ; 
they  lay  sick ;  they  saw  their  beloved  die ;  they  suffered 
hunger  and  cold;  but  still  they  persevered.     They  saw 
the  habitations  they  had  built  destroyed,  and  they  built 
afresh.     Amid  their  struggles  with  want  and  adversity, 
amid  the  Indian's  rain    of  arrows,   they  founded   their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  191 

commonwealth  and  their  church ;  they  formed  laws, 
established  schools,  and  all  that  could  give  stability  and 
strength  to  a  human  community.  They  wielded  the 
sword  with  one  hand  and  guided  the  plough  with  the 
other.  Amid  increasing  jeopardy  of  life,  they  in  parti 
cular  reflected  on  the  welfare  of  their  successors,  and 
framed  laws  which  every  one  must  admire  for  their 
sagacity,  purity,  and  humanity.  Even  the  animal  crea 
tion  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  these  laws,  and 
punishment  ordained  for  the  mistreatment  of  the  beast. 

During  the  first  year  their  sufferings  and  hardships 
were  extreme.  "  I  have  seen  men,"  writes  an  eye-witness, 
"  stagger  by  reason  of  faintness  for  want  of  food." 

The  harvest  of  the  third  year  was  abundant,  and  now, 
instead  of,  as  hitherto,  each  one  labouring  for  the  common 
benefit,  each  colonist  worked  alone  for  his  own  family  and 
his  own  advantage.  This  gave  an  impulse  to  labour  and 
to  good  management.  And  when  they  had  lived  through 
the  time  of  want,  a  time  of  prosperity  commenced,  and 
the  colony  increased  rapidly  in  power  and  extent.  In  a 
few  years  it  was  said  of  it  "  that  you  might  live  there  from 
one  year's  end  to  another  without  seeing  a  drunkard, 
hearing  an  oath,  or  meeting  with  a  beggar."  They  who 
survived  the  first  period  of  suffering  lived  to  be  extremely 
old. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  from  a  parentage  strong 
as  this,  should  be  derived  a  race  destined  to  become  a 
great  people.  Other  colonies  more  to  the  south,  whose 
morals  were  more  lax,  and  whose  purpose  of  life  was  of 
a  lower  range,  had  either  died  out  or  maintained  merely  a 
feeble  existence  amid  warfare  with  the  natives,  suffering 
from  the  climate  and  encompassed  with  difficulties.  The 
Puritans,  on  the  contrary,  with  their  lofty  aims  of  life, 
their  steadfast  faith  and  pure  manners,  became  the 
conquerors  of  the  desert  and  the  lawgivers  of  the  New 
World.  Nor  do  I  know  of  any  nation  which  ever  had  a 


192  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

nobler  foundation  or  nobler  founders.  The  whole  of 
humanity  had  taken  a  step  onward  with  the  Pilgrim- 
fathers  in  the  New  World.  The  work  which  they  had  to 
do  concerned  the  whole  human  race. 

And  when  from  the  land  of  the  Pilgrims  I  look  abroad 
over  the  United  States,  I  see  everywhere,  in  the  south  as 
well  as  the  north  and  the  west,  the  country  populated, 
the  empire  founded  by  a  people  composed  of  all  peoples, 
who  suffered  persecution  for  their  faith,  who  sought 
freedom  of  conscience  and  peace  on  a  new  free  soil.  I 
see  the  Huguenot  and  the  Herrnhutter  in  the  south,  and 
along  the  Mississippi,  in  the  west,  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  who,  from  all  the  countries  of  Europe  seek  for 
and  find  there  those  most  precious  treasures  of  mankind ; 
and  who  in  that  affluent  soil  establish  flourishing  commu 
nities  under  the  social  and  free  laws  instituted  by  the 
oldest  Pilgrims. 

To  them  belongs  the  honour  of  that  new  creation,  and 
from  them  even  to  this  day,  proceed  the  creative  ideas  in 
the  social  life  of  the  New  World ;  and  whether  willingly 
or  unwillingly,  widely  differing  people  and  religious  sects 
have  received  the  impression  of  their  spirit.  Domestic 
manners,  social  intercourse,  form  themselves  by  it ;  the 
life  and  church- government  of  all  religious  bodies  recog 
nise  the  influence  of  the  Puritan  standard,  "  Live  con 
formably  to  conscience;  let  thy  whole  behaviour  bear 
witness  to  thy  religious  confession."  And  that  form  of 
government  which  was  organised  by  the  little  commu 
nity  of  the  "  Mayflower,"  has  become  the  vital  principle 
in  all  the  United  States  of  America,  and  is  the  same 
which  now  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  controls  and 
directs  with  quiet  power  the  wild  free  spirits  of  California, 
educating  them  to  self-government  and  obedience  to  law. 

The  old  colonies  have  sent  out  to  all  parts  of  the  Union 
crowds  of  pilgrims,  sons  and  daughters,  and  they  consti 
tute  at  this  time  more  than  one -third  of  the  population  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  193 

the  United  States  of  North  America.  They  were  never 
theless  most  numerous  in  the  north,  and  there  they  have 
left  the  strongest  impression  of  their  spirit. 

When  I  contemplate  that  Puritan  community  as  it 
exists  in  our  time,  about  two  centuries  after  its  first 
establishment,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  two  main 
springs  within  its  impulsive  heart ;  the  one  is  a  tendency 
towards  the  ideal  of  moral  life,  the  other  impels  it  to 
conquer  the  earth,  that  is  to  say,  the  material  power  and 
products  of  life.  The  men  of  the  New  World,  and  pre 
eminently  the  men  of  New  England,  (humourously  called 
Yankees)  have  a  passion  for  acquisition,  and  for  this 
object  think  nothing  of  labour — even  the  hardest — and 
nothing  of  trouble  ;  nay,  to  travel  half  over  the  world  to 
do  a  good  stroke  of  business,  is  a  very  little  thing.  The 
Viking  element  in  the  Yankee's  nature,  and  which  he  per 
haps  originally  inherited  from  the  Scandinavian  Vikings, 
compels  him  incessantly  to  work,  to  undertake,  to  accom 
plish  something  which  tends  either  to  his  own  improve 
ment  or  that  of  others.  For  when  he  has  improved  himself, 
he  thinks,  if  not  before,  of  employing  his  pound  for  the 
public  good.  He  gets  money,  but  only  to  spend.  He 
puts  it  by,  but  not  for  selfish  purposes.  Public  spirit  is 
the  animating  principle  of  his  life,  and  he  prefers  to  leave 
behind  him  the  name  of  an  esteemed  and  beloved  citizen 
rather  than  a  large  property.  He  likes  to  leave  that  which 
he  has  acquired  to  some  institution  or  benevolent  estab 
lishment,  which  thenceforth  commonly  bears  his  name. 
And  I  know  those  whose  benevolence  is  so  pure  that  they 
slight  even  this  reward. 

The  moral  ideal  of  man  and  of  society  seems  to  be 
clearly  understood  here,  and  all  the  more  clearly  in  those 
northern  states  which  have  derived  their  population  from 
the  old  colonies.  From  conversation  with  sensible 
idealists  among  my  friends  as  well  as  from  the  attention 
I  have  given  to  the  spirit  of  public  life  here,  I  have 

VOL.  I.  0 


194  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

acquainted  myself  with  the  demands  made  by  man  and  by 
society,  and  for  which  young  America  combats  as  for  its 
true  purpose  and  mission,  and  they  appear  to  be  as 
follows : — 

Every  human  being  must  be  strictly  true  to  his  own 
individuality ;  must  stand  alone  with  God,  and  from  this 
innermost  point  of  view  must  act  alone  conformably  to 
his  own  consciencious  convictions. 

There  is  no  virtue  peculiar  to  the  one  sex  which  is  not 
also  a  virtue  in  the  other.  Man  must  in  morals  and 
conduct  come  up  to  the  purity  of  woman. 

Woman  must  possess  the  means  of  the  highest  develop 
ment  of  which  her  nature  is  capable.  She  must  equally 
with  man  have  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  and 
developing  her  intellect.  She  must  possess  the  same 
rights  in  her  endeavours  after  freedom  and  happiness  as 
man. 

The  honour  of  labour  and  the  rewards  of  labour  ought 
to  be  equal  to  all.  All  labour  is  in  itself  honourable,  and 
must  be  regarded  as  such.  Every  honest  labourer  must 
be  honoured. 

The  principle  of  equality  must  govern  in  society. 

Man  must  become  just  and  good  through  a  just  and 
good  mode  of  treatment.  Good  must  call  forth  good. 

(This  reminds  me  of  that  beautiful  Swedish  legend  of 
the  middle  ages,  about  the  youth  who  was  changed  by  a 
witch  into  a  wehr-wolf,  but  who,  at  the  sound  of  his 
Christian  name,  spoken  by  a  loving  voice,  would  recover  his 
original  shape.) 

The  community  must  give  to  every  one  of  its  members 
the  best  possible  chance  of  developing  his  human  abilities, 
so  that  he  may  come  into  possession  of  his  human  rights. 
This  must  be  done  in  part  by  legislation,  which  must 
remove  all  hindrances  and  impediments  ;  in  part  by  public 
educational  institutions  which  shall  give  to  all  alike  the 
opportunity  of  the  full  development  of  the  human 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  195 

faculties,  until  they  reach  the  age  when  they  may  be 
considered  as  capable  of  caring  for  and  determining  for 
themselves. 

The  ideal  of  society  is  attained  in  part  by  the  individual 
coming  up  to  his  own  ideal ;  in  part  by  those  free  insti 
tutions  and  associations  in  which  mankind  is  brought 
into  a  brotherly  relation  with  each  other,  and  by  mutual 
responsibility. 

EVERYTHING  FOR  ALL  is  the  true  object  of  society. 
Every  one  must  be  able  to  enjoy  all  the  good  things  of 
earth,  as  well  temporal  as  spiritual,-  every  one  according 
to  his  own  capacity  of  enjoyment.  None  must  be  excluded 
who  does  not  exclude  himself.  The  chance  of  regaining 
his  place  in  society  must  be  given  to  everyone.  For  this 
cause  the  prison  must  be  an  institution  for  improvement, 
a  second  school  for  those  who  need  it.  Society  must 
in  its  many-sided  development,  so  organise  itself  that 
all  may  be  able  to  attain  everything :  EVERYTHING  FOR 
ALL. 

The  ideal  of  the  man  of  America  seems  to  me  to  be, 
purity  of  intention,  decision  in  will,  energy  in  action, 
simplicity  and  gentleness  in  manner  and  demeanour. 
Hence  it  is  that  there  is  a  something  tender  and  chivalric 
in  his  behaviour  to  woman,  which  is  infinitely  becoming 
to  him.  In  every  woman  he  respects  his  own  mother. 

In  the  same  way  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  ideal  of 
the  woman  of  America,  of  the  woman  of  the  New  World, 
is,  independence  in  character,  gentleness  of  demeanour 
and  manner. 

The  American's  ideal  of  happiness  seems  to  me  to  be, 
marriage  and  home,  combined  with  public  activity.  To 
have  a  wife,  his  own  house  and  home,  his  own  little  piece 
of  land ;  to  take  care  of  these,  and  to  beautify  them, 
at  the  same  time  doing  some  good  to  the  state  or  to 
the  city — this  seems  to  me  to  be  the  object  of  human 
life  with  most  men ;  a  journey  to  Europe  to  see 

o  2 


196  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

perfected  cities,  and — ruins  belong  to  it,  as  a  desirable 
episode. 

Of  the  American  home  I  have  seen  enough,  and  heard 
enough,  for  me  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  women  have 
in  general  all  the  rule  there  which  they  wish  to  have. 
Woman  is  the  centre  and  the  lawgiver  in  the  home  of 
the  New  World,  and  the  American  man  loves  that  it 
should  be  so.  He  wishes  that  his  wife  should  have  her 
own  will  at  home,  and  he  loves  to  obey  it.  In  proof  of 
this,  I  have  heard  the  words  of  a  young  man  quoted  ;  "  I 
hope  that  my  wife  will  have  her  own  will  in  the  house, 
and  if  she  has  not  I'll  make  her  have  it !  "  I  must,  how 
ever,  say,  that  in  the  happy  homes  in  which  I  lived 
I  saw  the  wife  equally  careful  to  guide  herself  by  the 
wishes  of  her  husband  as  he  was  to  indulge  hers. 
Affection  and  sound  reason  make  all  things  equal. 

The  educational  institutions  for  woman  are  in  general 
much  superior  to  those  of  Europe ;  and  perhaps  the 
most  important  work  which  America  is  doing  for  the 
future  of  humanity,  consists  in  her  treatment  and  educa 
tion  of  woman.  Woman's  increasing  value  as  a  teacher, 
and  the  employment  of  her  as  such  in  public  schools, 
even  in  those  for  boys,  is  a  public  fact  in  these  states 
which  greatly  delights  me.  Seminaries  have  been  esta 
blished  to  educate  her  for  this  vocation  (I  hope  to  be 
able  to  visit  that  at  West  Newton,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Boston,  and  which  was  originated  by  Horace  Mann). 
It  even  seems  as  if  the  daughters  of  New  England 
had  a  peculiar  faculty  and  love  for  this  employment. 
Young  girls  of  fortune  devote  themselves  to  it.  The 
daughters  of  poor  farmers  go  to  work  in  the  manufac 
tories  a  sufficient  time  to  earn  the  necessary  sum  to  put 
themselves  to  school,  and  thus  to  become  teachers  in  due 
course.  Whole  crowds  of  school-teachers  go  hence  to 
the  western  and  southern  states,  where  schools  are  daily 
being  established,  and  placed  under  their  direction. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  197 

The  young  daughters  of  New  England  are  universally 
commended  for  their  character  and  ability.  Even  Waldo 
Emerson,  who  does  not  easily  praise,  spoke  in  com 
mendation  of  them.  They  learn  in  the  schools  the 
classics,  mathematics,  physics,  algebra,  with  great  ease, 
and  pass  their  examinations  like  young  men.  Not  long 
since  a  young  lady  in  Nantucket,  not  far  from  Boston, 
distinguished  herself  in  astronomy,  discovered  a  new 
planet,  and  received,  in  consequence,  a  medal  from  the 
King  of  Prussia. 

The  literature  of  Germany  has  for  some  years  taken 
a  great  hold  in  the  Northern  States,  and  has  had  a 
remarkable  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  youthful 
student  in  particular,  as  awakening  the  mind  to  the  ideal 
of  life.  The  public  speakers  and  lecturers,  who  attract 
multitudes  to  hear  them,  are  the  advocates  and  promul- 
gators  of  the  human  ideal.  Peace,  liberty,  genuineness 
of  character,  temperance,  purity,  and  the  ennobling  of 
every  phase  and  condition  of  life,  the  diffusion  of  the 
benefits  of  life  and  cultivation  to  all  men,  are  the  subjects 
which  animate  the  eloquence  of  the  speaker  and  attract 
thousands  of  listeners.  All  questions  are  treated  and 
worked  out  with  reference  to  "  the  benefit  of  all,  the 
ennobling  of  all." 

It  is  said  of  a  tree  that  it  grows  when  it  raises  itself 
nearer  to  heaven  ;  and  we  may,  in  this  sense,  say  of  this 
community,  that  it  grows.  It  labours  not  merely  to 
extend,  but  to  elevate  itself. 

Since  I  last  wrote,  I  have  spent  an  amusing  evening 
at  an  anti-slavery  meeting,  in  Faneuil  Hall  (a  large  hall 
for  public  assemblies),  which  was  very  animated.  Mr. 
Charles  Sumner,  who  wished  me  to  see  one  of  the 
popular  assemblies  here,  accompanied  me.  Some  run 
away  slaves  were  to  be  introduced  to  the  public,  and  the 
talking  was  about  them.  The  hall  and  the  galleries 
were  quite  full.  One  of  the  best,  and  certainly  most 


198  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

original,  speaker  of  the  evening,  was  a  great  negro,  who 
had  lately  succeeded  in  escaping  from  slavery  with  his 
wife  and  child,  and  who  related  the  history  of  his  escape. 
There  was  a  freshness,  a  life,  an  individuality  in  this 
man's  eloquence  and  gestures  which,  together  with  the 
great  interest  of  the  narrative,  were  infinitely  delightful. 
Sometimes  he  made  use  of  such  extraordinary  similes 
and  expressions,  that  the  whole  assembly  burst  into  peals 
of  laughter ;  but  John  Brown,  that  was  his  name,  did  not 
join  in  it;  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  moved,  but 
went  on  only  the  more  earnestly  with  his  story. 

I  remember,  in  particular,  when  he  described  crossing 
a  river  while  pursued  by  the  men  employed  to  catch  him. 
"  There  sit  I  now,"  said  he,  "  in  a  boat  with  merely  one 
pair  of  oars,  and  row  and  row  with  all  my  might  to  reach 
the  other,  the  free  shore,  where  my  wife  and  my  child 
await  me.  And  there  I  see  the  pursuers  coming  after 
me,  rowing  with  three  pair  of  oars.  They  have  nearly 
caught  me ; — but  above  us  sits  the  great  God,  and  looks 
at  us,  and  he  gave  me  the  start.  I  reach  the  shore  ;  I 
am  upon  free  ground  !  And  now,  this  evening,  I  am  with 
my  wife  and  my  child  !  " 

The  assembly  clapped  their  hands  in  tumultuous 
applause.  After  this  speaker  a  group  came  forward, 
which  was  also  saluted  with  much  clapping  of  hands ;  a 
young,  fair  lady,  in  a  simple  white  dress,  and  hair  without 
any  ornament,  stepped  forward,  leading  a  dark  Mulatto 
woman  by  the  hand.  She  had  been  a  slave,  and  had 
lately  escaped  from  slavery  on  board  a  vessel,  where  she 
had  been  concealed.  Her  owners,  who  suspected  her 
place  of  concealment,  obtained  a  warrant  for  searching 
the  vessel,  which  they  did  thoroughly,  burning  brimstone 
in  order  to  compel  her  to  come  forth.  But  she  endured 
it  all,  and  succeeded  in  making  her  escape.  It  was  a 
beautiful  sight,  when  the  young,  white  woman,  Miss 
Lucy  S.,  one  of  the  ladies  whom  I  had  seen  at  my 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  199 

little  Doctress's,  placed  her  hand  upon  the  head  of  the 
black  woman,  calling  her  sister,  and  introducing  her  as 
such  to  the  assembled  crowd.  It  looked  well  and  beau 
tiful,  and  it  was  certainly  felt  by  all  that  the  white  woman 
stood  here  as  the  friend  and  protector  of  the  black. 
Miss  Lucy  performed  her  part  very  well,  in  a  perfectly 
womanly,  quiet,  and  beautiful  manner.  She  then  related 
the  history  of  the  late  slave,  and  talked  about  slavery  for 
a  full  hour,  with  perfect  self-possession,  perspicuity,  and 
propriety  of  tone  and  gesture.  But  instead  of  speaking, 
as  she  might  and  ought  to  have  done,  from  her  own 
womanly  feeling  of  life — instead  of  awakening  sympathy 
for  those  wrongs  which  woman  especially  suffers  in  slavery, 
inasmuch  as  her  very  children  do  not  belong  to  her ; 
that  the  beings  whom  she  brings  forth  in  sorrow  are  the 
property  of  her  master,  and  may  be  taken  from  her  and 
sold  whenever  he  will — instead  of  la}ring  stress  upon  this 
and  many  other  circumstances  repulsive  to  the  heart  and 
to  every  sense  of  justice,  and  which  especially  befal  the 
female  slave ;  Miss  Lucy  struck  into  the  common  track  of 
so-much  hackneyed  abuse  of  the  pro-slavery  men  of  the 
north,  and  against  Daniel  Webster  and  his  warm  zeal 
for  Hungarian  freedom,  while  he  saw  with  indifference 
three  millions  of  native  Americans  held  in  slavery.  She 
repeated  merely  what  the  men  had  already  said,  and 
said  better  and  more  powerfully  than  she  had  done  ;  she 
entirely  mistook  her  own  mission  as  a  female  speaker. 
When  will  women  perceive  that,  if  they  would  worthily 
take  a  place  in  the  forum,  they  must  come  forth  with  the 
dignity  and  power  of  the  being  who  has  new  and  mighty 
truths  to  enunciate  and  represent  ?  They  must  feel  and 
speak  from  the  centre  of  the  sphere  of  woman.  Not  all 
the  good-nature  and  courtesy  of  man  will  enable  them 
to  maintain  their  place  on  the  public  platform,  if  they  do 
not  take  possession  of  it  on  their  own  positive  ground. 
There  is  no  want  of  this  in  itself;  it  lies  near  to  the 


198  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

original,  speaker  of  the  evening,  was  a  great  negro,  who 
had  lately  succeeded  in  escaping  from  slavery  with  his 
wife  and  child,  and  who  related  the  history  of  his  escape. 
There  was  a  freshness,  a  life,  an  individuality  in  this 
man's  eloquence  and  gestures  which,  together  with  the 
great  interest  of  the  narrative,  were  infinitely  delightful. 
Sometimes  he  made  use  of  such  extraordinary  similes 
and  expressions,  that  the  whole  assembly  burst  into  peals 
of  laughter ;  but  John  Brown,  that  was  his  name,  did  not 
join  in  it;  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  moved,  but 
went  on  only  the  more  earnestly  with  his  story. 

I  remember,  in  particular,  when  he  described  crossing 
a  river  while  pursued  by  the  men  employed  to  catch  him. 
"  There  sit  I  now,"  said  he,  "  in  a  boat  with  merely  one 
pair  of  oars,  and  row  and  row  with  all  my  might  to  reach 
the  other,  the  free  shore,  where  my  wife  and  my  child 
await  me.  And  there  I  see  the  pursuers  coming  after 
me,  rowing  with  three  pair  of  oars.  They  have  nearly 
caught  me ; — but  above  us  sits  the  great  God,  and  looks 
at  us,  and  he  gave  me  the  start.  I  reach  the  shore  ;  I 
am  upon  free  ground  !  And  now,  this  evening,  I  am  with 
my  wife  and  my  child  !  " 

The  assembly  clapped  their  hands  in  tumultuous 
applause.  After  this  speaker  a  group  came  forward, 
which  was  also  saluted  with  much  clapping  of  hands  ;  a 
young,  fair  lady,  in  a  simple  white  dress,  and  hair  without 
any  ornament,  stepped  forward,  leading  a  dark  Mulatto 
woman  by  the  hand.  She  had  been  a  slave,  and  had 
lately  escaped  from  slavery  on  board  a  vessel,  where  she 
had  been  concealed.  Her  owners,  who  suspected  her 
place  of  concealment,  obtained  a  warrant  for  searching 
the  vessel,  which  they  did  thoroughly,  burning  brimstone 
in  order  to  compel  her  to  come  forth.  But  she  endured 
it  all,  and  succeeded  in  making  her  escape.  It  was  a 
beautiful  sight,  when  the  young,  white  woman,  Miss 
Lucy  S.,  one  of  the  ladies  whom  I  had  seen  at  my 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  199 

little  Doctress's,  placed  her  hand  upon  the  head  of  the 
hlack  woman,  calling  her  sister,  and  introducing  her  as 
such  to  the  assembled  crowd.  It  looked  well  and  beau 
tiful,  and  it  was  certainly  felt  by  all  that  the  white  woman 
stood  here  as  the  friend  and  protector  of  the  black. 
Miss  Lucy  performed  her  part  very  well,  in  a  perfectly 
womanly,  quiet,  and  beautiful  manner.  She  then  related 
the  history  of  the  late  slave,  and  talked  about  slavery  for 
a  full  hour,  with  perfect  self-possession,  perspicuity,  and 
propriety  of  tone  and  gesture.  But  instead  of  speaking, 
as  she  might  and  ought  to  have  done,  from  her  own 
womanly  feeling  of  life — instead  of  awakening  sympathy 
for  those  wrongs  which  woman  especially  suffers  in  slavery, 
inasmuch  as  her  very  children  do  not  belong  to  her ; 
that  the  beings  whom  she  brings  forth  in  sorrow  are  the 
property  of  her  master,  and  may  be  taken  from  her  and 
sold  whenever  he  will — instead  of  laying  stress  upon  this 
and  many  other  circumstances  repulsive  to  the  heart  and 
to  every  sense  of  justice,  and  which  especially  befal  the 
female  slave ;  Miss  Lucy  struck  into  the  common  track  of 
so-much  hackneyed  abuse  of  the  pro-slavery  men  of  the 
north,  and  against  Daniel  Webster  and  his  warm  zeal 
for  Hungarian  freedom,  while  he  saw  with  indifference 
three  millions  of  native  Americans  held  in  slavery.  She 
repeated  merely  what  the  men  had  already  said,  and 
said  better  and  more  powerfully  than  she  had  done  ;  she 
entirely  mistook  her  own  mission  as  a  female  speaker. 
When  will  women  perceive  that,  if  they  would  worthily 
take  a  place  in  the  forum,  they  must  come  forth  with  the 
dignity  and  power  of  the  being  who  has  new  and  mighty 
truths  to  enunciate  and  represent  ?  They  must  feel  and 
speak  from  the  centre  of  the  sphere  of  woman.  Not  all 
the  good-nature  and  courtesy  of  man  will  enable  them 
to  maintain  their  place  on  the  public  platform,  if  they  do 
not  take  possession  of  it  on  their  own  positive  ground. 
There  is  no  want  of  this  in  itself;  it  lies  near  to  the 


200  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

heart  of  woman  ;  it  is  within  her,  around  her,  if  she  will 
but  see  it.  But  she  must  yet  obtain  a  more  profound 
knowledge  both  of  herself  and  of  life.  The  women  who 
in  all  ages  have  stood  forward  as  the  priestesses  of  the 
inner  life,  as  prophetesses  and  interpretesses  of  the 
most  sublime  and  the  most  holy,  and  who  were  listened 
to  as  such  by  people  and  by  kings,  Deborah,  Wala, 
Sybilla,  merely  naming  in  them  some  of  the  oldest 
types — these  might  point  out  to  the  women  of  the  New 
World  the  ,path  to  public  power  and  public  influence. 
And  if  they  do  not  feel  this  higher  power  in  themselves, 
how  much  better  to  remain  in  quietness  and  silence ! 
How  powerful  might  they  be  even  then  !  What  power  is 
mightier  than  that  of  love,  than  that  of  rational  goodness  ? 
The  eagle  and  the  dove,  as  I  have  heard  it  said,  are,  of 
all  birds,  those  which  fly  farthest  and  most  rapidly  to 
their  object. 

Miss  Lucy  Stone's  audience  were  good-natured,  listen 
ing  attentively  and  applauding  at  the  close  of  the  speech, 
but  not  much.  People  praise  her  clearness  of  delivery, 
her  becoming  manner,  and  the  perspicuity  of  her  mind : 
that  was  all ;  more  could  not  be  said — and  that  was  not 
much. 

The  gentlemen  who  followed  her  brought  with  them 
more  life  and  interest.  But  they  offended  me  by  their 
want  of  moderation  and  justice ;  by  their  style  of  decla 
mation  ;  by  their  endeavouring  to  point  out  even  in  the  gal 
leries  of  the  hall,  individuals  who  did  not  agree  with  them 
in  their  anti- slavery  labours ;  it  offended  me  to  hear  family 
life  desecrated  by  making  known  dissensions ;  for  example, 
between  the  father  and  the  daughter  on  these  questions ; 
thus  overlooking  the  divine  moral  law  of  "Judge  not !" 
These  tirades  were  carried  to  an  extreme  and  with  much 
personality.  But  all  was  animated  and  amusing,  and  the 
best  understanding  seemed  to  exist  between  the  speaker 
and  his  audience. — Wendel  Phillips,  the  young  lawyer, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  201 

seemed  to  possess  the  greatest  share  of  public  favour ; 
and  he  is  really  an  unusually  gifted  and  agreeable  speaker, 
carrying  the  public  along  with  him,  and  seeming  to 
know  his  own  power  of  moving  and  electrifying  them. 
A  Mr.  Quincy,  a  young  man,  of  one  of  the  highest 
families  in  Boston,  spoke  violently  against  anti-slavery 
people,  and  among  others  against  his  own  eldest  brother, 
now  Mayor  of  Boston.  But  the  public  did  not  like  his 
outbreak,  especially  against  the  Mayor,  and  hissed  and 
clamoured  terrifically.  Mr.  Quincy  proceeded  with  still 
more  violence,  walking  up  and  down  the  platform,  his 
hands  in  the  pockets  of  his  coat- skirts,  which  he  fluttered 
about,  as  if  he  enjoyed  himself,  and  was  fanned  by  the 
most  agreeable  of  zephyrs. 

At  length  the  tumult  and  the  cry  of  "  Phillips ! " 
"  Wendel  Phillips! "  was  so  overpowering,  that  Mr.  Quincy 
could  not  be  heard.  He  paused,  and  beckoned  with  a 
smile  to  Wendel  Phillips  that  he  should  take  his  place. 

Phillips,  a  fair-complexioned  young  man,  of  a  pleasing 
figure  and  very  easy  deportment,  stepped  forth,  and  was 
greeted  with  a  salvo  of  clapping,  after  which  a  profound 
silence  prevailed.  Wendel  Phillips  spoke  with  the  calmness 
and  self-possession  of  a  speaker  who  perfectly  under 
stands  both  himself  and  his  hearers,  and  he  took  up  that 
subject  which  Miss  Lucy  had  passed  over ;  he  spoke  for 
the  female  slave,  for  the  mother  whose  new-born  child 
belongs  not  to  her,  but  to  the  slave-holder  and  to  slavery. 
He  spoke  of  this  with  the  low  voice  of  suppressed 
emotion,  and  a  simplicity  of  language,  yet  powerful  enough 
to  excite  to  the  utmost  the  human  heart  against  the 
circumstances  and  the  mode  of  treatment  which  he 
described.  It  was  masterly.  The  assembly  hung  on  his 
lips  and  took  in  every  word.  Once,  during  an  argument, 
he  addressed  my  companion,  Mr.  Sumner,  saying,  "  Is  it 
not  so,  brother  Sumner  ?  "  Sumner  smiled,  and  nodded 
an  affirmative. 


202  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

At  the  close  of  this  speech  an  excited  gentleman  leapt 
upon  the  platform  and  began  to  declaim  at  the  side  of 
Phillips.  Phillips  laughed,  and  prayed  the  assembly  not 
to  listen  to  this  "  incapable  gentleman."  The  assembly 
were  thrown  into  a  state  of  fermentation,  yet  in  perfect 
good-humour ;  they  smiled,  they  whistled,  they  shouted, 
they  clapped,  and  hissed,  all  together.  During  this 
commotion  the  people  began  to  leave  the  galleries  with 
the  utmost  calmness  and  composure.  Plates  were  sent 
round  through  the  hall  to  receive  a  collection  for  the 
Mulatto -woman,  after  which  we  left  the  hall  together  with 
many  others  ;  and  I  could  not  but  admire  the  quietness, 
the  methodic  manner,  in  which  this  was  done.  There  was 
no  crushing  nor  confusion ;  each  one  followed  silently  in  his 
turn,  and  thus  the  assembly  flowed  away  like  a  quiet  river. 

I  was  glad  to  have  been  at  a  popular  assembly  where  so 
much  license  prevailed,  but  which  was  yet  under  the 
control  of  order  and  good  temper. 

I  visited  the  Senate-House  one  day  in  company  with 
Mr.  Simmer.  Saw  the  Senate  sitting  sleepily  over  a 
question  of  shoe-leather,  and  heard  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  a  good  deal  of  very  animated  but  some 
what  plebeian  eloquence  in  a  debate  on  the  question  of 
"Plurality  and  Majority,"  as  well  as  voting.  But  of  this 
I  shall  say  no  more.  The  Americans  speak  extempore 
with  great  ease  and  fluency  :  their  speeches  here  were 
like  a  rushing  torrent ;  the  gestures  energetic,  but 
monotonous,  and  without  elegance. 

The  President,  the  speaker,  and  several  of  the  members 
of  both  Houses,  came  and  shook  hands  with  me,  and  bade 
me  welcome.  I  mention  this  because  it  seems  to  me 
beautiful  and  kind  thus  to  welcome  a  foreigner  and  a 
woman,  without  importance  in  political  life,  but  who 
properly  belongs  to  the  quiet  world  of  home.  Does  not 
this  show  that  the  men  of  the  New  World  regard  the 
home  as  the  maternal  life  of  the  State  ? 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  203 

I  was  pleased  by  this  visit  to  the  States-House  of 
Boston,  which  is  also,  in  its  exterior,  a  magnificent 
building.  Two  immense  fountains  cast  up  their  waters 
in  front  of  its  fa9ade,  and  from  the  flight  of  steps 
outside  the  house  the  view  is  splendid.  Below  lies  the 
extensive  green  called  "  Boston  Common,"  in  the  middle 
of  which  is  also  a  beautiful  fountain,  which  throws 
up  its  water  to  a  great  height.  Eound  it,  on  three 
sides,  run  three  remarkably  beautiful  streets,  each  street 
planted  through  its  whole  length  with  lofty  trees,  mostly 
the  elm,  the  favourite  tree  of  Massachussets,  and  some  of 
the  same  kind  beautify  also  the  park-like  Common. 
On  the  fourth  side  is  an  open  view  of  the  ocean  creek. 

Here,  on  the  broad  causeways,  beneath  the  beautiful 
elms,  I  am  fond  of  walking  when  the  weather  is  mild, 
to  behold  through  the  branches  of  the  trees  the  bright 
blue  heaven  of  Massachussets,  and  to  see  in  the  park, 
the  little  Republicans  coming  out  of  school,  running  and 
leaping  about.  In  this  neighbourhood  are  various 
beautiful  well-built  streets,  among  which  "  Mount  Auburn 
Street,"  with  its  view  of  the  sea,  and  along  which  I  walk 
on  my  way  to  the  Common  from  my  home  at  Mr.  Benzon's. 
Below  the  hill  on  the  other  side  lies  the  market-place, 
"  Louisberg  Square,"  where  I  also  often  take  a  walk; 
but  less  for  its  little  inclosure  of  trees  and  shrubs,  and 
the  there  enclosed  wretched  statue  of  Aristides,  but 
because  Mrs.  B.  lives  there ;  and  with  her  I  always  feel 
myself  quiet  and  happy,  and  am  willing  now  and  then 
to  take  an  excellent  little  dinner  in  company  with 
her  mother,  Mrs.  L.,  a  clever,  cordial  and  splendid  old 
lady,  and  one  or  two  other  guests.  Mrs.  B.  is  one  of 
the  genus  fashionable,  who  has  her  clothes  ready-made 
from  Paris,  and  who  lives  as  a  rich  lady,  but  whose  heart 
is  nevertheless  open  to  life's  modest  works  of  love,  and 
who  endeavours  to  make  all  around  her,  even  animals, 
happy.  A  magnificent  grey  greyhound  called  Princess, 


204  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

has  its  home  in  the  house,  and  is  the  most  excellent 
house-dog  I  ever  made  acquaintance  with. 

Mrs.  B.'s  little  daughter,  Julia,  is  remarkably  like 
her  grandmother  in  her  turn  of  mind,  her  liveliness  and 
even  her  wit.  This  charming  little  girl  makes  the  most 
amusing  puns  without  being  at  all  aware  of  it. 

One  day  when  there  was  good  sledging,  Mrs.  B. 
took  me  to  see  a  sledge-drive  on  the  Neck,  a  narrow 
promontory  which  is  the  scene  of  action  for  the  sledging 
of  the  Boston  fashionables.  The  young  gentlemen  in 
their  light  elegant  carriages,  with  their  spirited  horses, 
flew  like  the  wind.  It  looked  charming  and  animated.  I 
once  saw  one  of  the  giant  sledges,  in  which  were  seated 
from  fifty  to  a  hundred  persons.  This  was  drawn  by  four 
horses,  and  certainly  above  fifty  young  ladies  in  white, 
and  with  pink  silk  bonnets  and  fluttering  ribbons,  filled 
the  body  of  the  carriage.  It  looked  like  an  immense 
basket  of  flowers,  and  had  also  a  splendid  and  beautiful 
appearance.  But  I  am  not  fond  of  seeing  people  in  a 
crowd,  not  even  as  a  crowd  of  flowers  ;  a  crowd  nullifies 
individuality.  More  beautiful  sledging  than  that  of  the 
Swedish  "  Kacken,"  where  a  gentleman  and  lady  sit  side 
by  side,  on  bear  or  leopard  skins,  drawn  by  a  pair  of 
spirited  horses  covered  with  swinging  white  nets, — more 
beautiful  carriages  and  driving  than  these  have  I  never 
seen. 

There  has  been  this  winter  no  good  sledging  in  Boston ; 
nor  has  the  winter  been  severe.  Yet,  nevertheless,  it  is 
with  difficulty  that  I  can  bear  the  air  as  soon  as  it  becomes 
cold.  I  who  have  such  a  love  of  the  Swedish  winter,  and 
who  breathe  easily  in  our  severest  weather,  have  really 
difficulty  in  breathing  here  when  the  atmosphere  is  as 
cold  as  it  is  just  now, — it  feels  so  keen  and  severe.  It 
seems  to  me  as  if  the  old  Puritanic  austere  spirit  had 
entered  or  rather  gone  forth  into  the  air  and  penetrated  it ; 
and  such  an  atmosphere  does  not  suit  me.  Of  a  certainty 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  205 

the  atmosphere  of  America  is  essentially  different  to  that 
of  Europe.  It  seems  thin  and  dry,  wonderfully  fine 
and  penetrating,  and  it  certainly  operates  upon  the  con 
stitutions  of  the  people.  How  seldom  one  sees  fat  people 
or  plump  forms  here.  The  women  appear  delicate  and 
not  strong.  The  men  strong  and  full  of  muscular 
elasticity,  but  they  are  generally  thin,  and  grow  more  in 
height  than  otherwise.  The  cheeks  become  sunk  in  the 
man  even  while  he  is  but  a  youth,  and  the  countenance 
assimilates  to  the  Indian  type.  The  climate  of  Boston 
is,  for  the  rest,  not  considered  good  on  account  of  the 
cold  sea-winds. 

Of  Boston  I  shall  not  say  much,  because  I  have  not 
seen  much,  and  not  in  the  best  state  of  mind  to  judge. 
The  city  itself  does  not  seem  to  possess  anything  remark 
ably  beautiful,  excepting  that  of  which  I  have  spoken. 
The  neighbourhood  of  Boston,  on  the  contrary,  I  have 
heard  described  as  very  beautiful,  and  in  many  cases 
bearing  a  resemblance  to  that  of  Stockholm.  As  yet  I 
have  only  seen  it  in  a  covered  carriage  and  in  its  winter 
aspect.  I  have  observed  a  great  number  of  charming 
country-houses  or  villas. 

My  most  agreeable  hours  in  Boston  have  been  spent  at 
Mrs.  Kemble's  readings  from  Shakspeare.  She  is  a  real 
genius,  and  her  power  of  expression,  and  the  flexibility 
of  her  voice,  so  that  she  at  the  moment  can  change  it  for 
the  character  she  represents,  are  most  wonderful.  None 
can  ever  forget  that  which  h  3  has  once  heard  her  read  ; 
she  carries  her  hearer  completely  into  the  world  and  the 
scene  which  she  represents.  Even  Jenny  Lind's  power  of 
personation  is  nothing  in  comparison  with  hers.  She  is 
excellent,  and  most  so  in  heroic  parts.  I  shall  never 
forget  her  glowing,  splendid  countenance,  when  she  as 
Henry  V.  incited  the  army  to  heroic  deeds.  And  she 
gave  the  scene  between  the  enamoured  warrior-king  and 
the  bashful  elegant  and  yet  naive  French  princess  in  such 


206  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  manner  as  made  one  both  laugh  and  cry,  that  is  to  say, 
one  laughed  with  tears  of  sheer  joy  in  one's  eyes.  When 
she  steps  forward  before  her  audience,  one  immediately 
sees  in  her  a  powerful  and  proud  nature,  which  bows 
before  the  public  in  the  consciousness  that  she  will  soon 
have  them  at  her  feet.  And  then — while  she  reads,  yes, 
then  she  forgets  the  public  and  Fanny  Kenible  ;  and  the 
public  forget  themselves  and  Fanny  Kemble  too  ;  and  both 
live  and  breathe  and  are  thrilled  with  horror,  and  bewitched 
by  the  great  dramatic  scenes  of  life  which  she  with  magic 
power  calls  forth.  Her  figure  is  strong  although  not 
large,  and  of  English  plumpness ;  a  countenance,  which 
without  being  beautiful,  is  yet  fine,  and  particularly  rich 
and  magnificent  in  expression.  "  In  her  smile  there  are 
fifty  smiles,"  said  Maria  Lowell,  who  always  says  things 
beautifully. 

Fanny  Kemble  was  extremely  amiable  and  kind  to  me, 
and  sent  me  a  free  admission  for  myself  and  a  friend  to 
her  Headings.  She  has  read  to-day  my  favourite  of  all 
the  Shakspeare  dramas,  Julius  Csesar,  and  she  read  it  so 
that  it  was  almost  more  than  I  could  bear.  In  com 
parison  with  these  glorious  heroic  characters  and  their 
life,  that  which  at  present  existed  around  me,  and  I  myself 
in  the  midst  of  it,  seemed  so  poor,  so  trivial,  so  colourless, 
that  it  was  painful  to  me.  And  that  which  made  it  still 
more  so,  was,  that  I  was  obliged  between  every  act,  and 
whilst  wholly  excited  by  the  reading,  to  turn  to  the  right 
hand  and  to  the  left  to  reply  to  introductions  and  to  shake 
hands — very  possibly  with  the  best  people  in  the  world, 
but  I  wished  them  altogether,  for  the  time,  in  the  moon. 
Besides  which,  a  lady,  a  stranger  to  me,  who  sate  by  me, 
gave  me  every  time  anything  remarkable  occurred,  either 
in  the  piece  or  in  its  delivery,  a  friendly  jog  with  her 
elbow. 

As  regards  the  people  around  me,  I  may  divide  them 
into  two,  or  rather  into  three  classes.  The  first  is  worthy 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  207 

of  being  loved,  full  of  kindness,  refinement,  and  a  beautiful 
sense  of  propriety ;  in  truth,  more  amiable  and  agreeable 
people  I  have  never  met  with ;  the  second  are,  thought 
less,  mean  well,  but  often  give  me  a  deal  of  vexation, 
leave  me  no  peace  either  at  home,  in  church,  or  at  any 
other  public  place,  and  have  no  idea  that  anybody  can 
desire  or  need  to  be  left  at  peace.  Much  curiosity  pre 
vails  certainly  in  this  class,  but  much  real  good-nature 
and  heartfelt  kindness  also,  although  it  often  expresses 
itself  in  a  peculiar  manner.  But,  then,  I  should  not 
perhaps  feel  this  so  keenly  if  I  had  my  usual  strength 
of  body  and  mind.  The  third — yes,  the  third  is  altoge 
ther — but  I  will  only  say  of  it,  that  it  is  not  a  numerous 
class,  and  belongs  to  a  genus  which  is  found  in  all 
countries  alike,  and  which  I  place  in  the  litany. 

I  receive  invitations  through  the  whole  week,  but  I 
accept  only  one,  and  another  invitation  to  dinner,  that  is 
to  say,  to  small  dinner-parties.  These  are  for  the  most 
part  very  agreeable,  and  I  thus  am  able  to  see  happy 
family  groups  on  their  own  charming  and  excellent 
hearths.  One  recognises  the  English  taste  and  arrange 
ment  in  everything.  For  the  most  part,  I  decline  all 
invitations  for  the  evening.  Evening  parties  do  not 
agree  with  me ;  the  heat  produced  by  the  gas-lights  of 
the  drawing-rooms  makes  me  feverish.  On  the  contrary, 
I  have  greatly  enjoyed  my  quiet  evenings  at  home 
since  I  had  a  young  friend  to  read  aloud  to  me,  that 
I  could  not  wish  for  anything  better.  Mr.  V.,  an 
agreeable  young  man,  son  of  Benzon's  companion,  and 
who  also  lives  in  the  house,  offered  to  read  aloud  to  me 
in  the  evening,  although  he  did  not  know,  he  said, 
whether  he  could  do  it  to  please  me,  as  he  had  never 
before  read  aloud.  He  read  rather  stumblingly  at  first, 
but  softly,  and  with  the  most  gentle  of  manly  voices. 
It  was  like  music  to  my  soul  and  my  senses ;  it 'calmed 
me  deliciously.  Before  long  he  lost  all  his  stumbling, 


208  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  his  reading  became  continuous  and  melodious  as 
a  softly  purling  stream.  And  thus  has  he  afforded  me 
many  good,  quiet  evenings,  in  the  reading  of  the 
biography  of  Washington,  of  the  President  of  Cambridge, 
Jared  Sparks',  Emerson's  Essays,  or  other  works.  Mr. 
Charles  Sumner  has  also  enabled  me  to  spend  some 
most  agreeable  hours,  whilst  he  has  read  to  me  various 
things,  in  particular  some  of  Longfellow's  poems.  One 
day  he  read  a  story  to  me,  in  itself  a  poem  in  prose,  by 
Nathaniel  Hawthorn,  which  gave  me  so  much  pleasure 
that  I  beg  leave  to  tell  it  you  with  the  greatest 
possible  brevity.  N.  B.  Hawthorn  is  one  of  the  latest 
of  the  prose  writers  of  North  America,  and  has  acquired 
a  great  reputation.  His  works  have  been  sent  to  me  by 
some  anonymous  female  friend,  whom  I  hope  yet  to  be 
able  to  discover,  that  I  may  thank  her.  He  treats 
national  subjects  with  much  earnestness  and  freshness ; 
and  that  mystical,  gloomy  sentiment,  which  forms,  as 
it  were,  the  back- ground  of  this  picture,  like  a  nocturnal 
sky,  from  which  the  stars  shine  forth,  exercises  a  magical 
influence  on  the  mind  of  the  New  World,  perhaps  because 
it  is  so  unlike  their  every-day  life.  The  piece  which 
Sumner  read  to  me  is  called  "  The  Great  Stone  Face," 
and  the  idea  seems  to  be  taken  from  the  actual  large 
rock  countenance,  which  it  is  said  may  be  seen  at  one 
place  among  the  mountains  of  New  Hampshire — the 
White  Mountains,  as  they  are  called — and  which  is  known 
under  the  name  of  "  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain." 

"  In  one  of  the  valleys  of  New  Hampshire,"  says 
Hawthorn,  "  there  lived  in  a  mean  cottage  a  young  lad, 
the  child  of  poor  parents.  From  his  home  and  from  the 
whole  valley  might  be  seen  in  one  of  the  lofty  distant 
mountains  a  large  human  profile,  as  if  hewn  out  in  the 
rock,  and  this  was  known  under  the  name  of  '  the  Great 
Stone  Face.'  There  was  an  old  tradition  in  the  valle}r, 
that  there  should  some  day  come  a  man  to  the  valley 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  209 

whose  countenance  should  resemble  that  of  the  great 
stone  face  ;  that  he  should  be  the  noblest  of  men,  and 
should  introduce  a  golden  age  into  the  valley.  The 
young  lad  grew  up  in  the  full  view  of  that  great  stone 
face  which  seemed  to  hold  dominion  over  the  dale,  and 
in  the  constant  thought  of  the  expected  stranger,  who 
would  one  day  come  and  make  the  dales-people  so  happy. 
For  hours  he  would  gaze  at  the  large  stone  countenance, 
filling  his  whole  soul  with  the  sublime  beauty  and 
nobility  of  its  features.  Thus  time  passed ;  he  went  to 
school,  grew  up  a  young  man,  became  a  schoolmaster  and 
clergyman  ;  but  he  always  kept  looking  at  the  lofty,  pure 
countenance  in  the  rock,  and  more  and  more  grew  his  love 
of  its  beauty,  and  more  and  more  deeply  he  longed  after 
the  man  who  had  been  foretold  and  promised,  and  whose 
countenance  should  resemble  this. 

All  at  once  a  great  cry  rang  through  the  dale, 
1  He  is  coming !  he  is  coming  ! '  And  everybody  went 
out  to  meet  and  to  welcome  the  great  man,  and  the  young 
minister  among  the  rest.  The  great  man  came  in  a 
great  carriage,  drawn  by  four  horses,  surrounded  by  the 
shouting  and  exulting  crowd ;  and  everybody  exclaimed, 
as  they  looked  at  him,  '  How  like  he  is  to  the  great 
stone  face  ! ' 

But  the  young  clergyman  saw  at  the  first  glance  that 
it  was  not  so,  and  that  he  could  not  be  the  foretold  and 
promised  stranger,  and  the  people  also,  after  he  had 
continued  some  time  in  the  valley,  discovered  the  same 
thing. 

The  young  man  went  quietly  on  his  way  as  before, 
doing  all  the  good  he  could,  and  waiting  for  the  expected 
stranger,  gazing  continually  on  the  large  countenance, 
and  fancying  that  he  was  living  and  acting  for  ever  in  its 
sight. 

Once  more  the  cry  went  abroad,  '  He  is  coming !  he 
is  coming  !  the  great  man ! '  And  again  the  people 

VOL.  I.  P 


210  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

streamed  forth  to  meet  him,  and  again  he  came  with  all 
the  pomp  of  the  former,  and  again  the  people  cried  out, 
'  How  like  he  is  to  the  great  stone  face  ! '  The  youth 
looked  and  saw  a  sallow  countenance  with  really  some 
resemblance  to  the  large  features  of  the  face ;  but,  for  all 
that  it  was  very  unlike.  And  after  a  while  he  began  to 
remark  that  the  resemblance  became  still  more  and  more 
unlike,  nor  was  it  long  before  everybody  found  out  that 
their  great  man  was  not  a  great  man  at  all,  and  that  he 
had  no  similarity  to  the  large  stone  face.  After  this  he 
disappeared  from  the  dale.  These  expectations  and  these 
disappointments  were  repeated  yet  several  times. 

At  length,  although  the  good  clergyman  gave  up 
almost  entirely  his  sanguine  expectations,  he  still  hoped 
silently,  and  continued  silently  to  work  in  his  vocation, 
but  with  more  and  more  earnestness,  extending  yet  more 
and  more  the  sphere  of  his  operations — for  ever  glancing 
upwards  to  that  large  stone  countenance,  and,  as  it  were, 
impressing  yet  deeper  and  deeper  its  features  upon  his 
soul.  Thus  time  went  on,  and  the  young  man  had 
advanced  towards  middle  life  ;  his  hair  had  begun  to  grow 
grey,  and  his  countenance  to  be  ploughed  by  the  furrows 
of  advancing  years,  but  the  great  long-expected  stranger 
had  not  appeared.  But  he  yet  hoped  on. 

In  the  meantime,  the  influence  of  his  life  and  his 
labours  had  ennobled  the  dales-people,  and  given  beauty  to 
the  dale  itself.  Universal  peace  and  universal  prosperity 
prevailed  there  during  a  long  course  of  years.  And  by 
this  time  the  locks  of  the  clergyman  were  of  a  silvery 
whiteness ;  his  face  had  become  pale  and  his  features 
rigid,  yet  was  his  countenance  beaming  with  human  love. 
About  this  time  the  people  began  to  whisper  among 
themselves,  '  Does  not  there  seem  to  be  a  remark 
able  resemblance  between  him  and  the  great  stone 
face  ? ' 

One   evening   a   stranger   came    to    the    clergyman's 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  211 

cottage  and  was  hospitably  entertained  there.  He  had 
come  to  the  dale  to  see  the  great  stone  countenance,  of 
which  he  had  heard,  and  to  see  the  man  also  of  whom 
report  said  that  he  bore  the  same  features,  not  merely  in 
the  outward  face,  but  in  the  beauty  of  the  spirit. 

In  the  calmness  of  evening,  in  presence  of  the  Eternal, 
in  presence  of  that  large  stone  countenance  of  the  rock, 
they  conversed  of  the  profound  and  beautiful  mysteries  of 
the  spiritual  life,  and  while  so  doing  they  themselves 
became  bright  and  beautiful  before  each  other. 

'  May  not  this  be  the  long-expected,  the  long- 
desired  one,'  thought  the  clergyman,  and  gazed  at  the 
transfigured  countenance  of  his  guest.  As  he  thus 
thought,  a  deep  feeling  of  peace  stole  over  him.  It  was 
that  of  death. 

He  bowed  his  head,  closed  his  eyes  ;  and  in  those  rigid 
but  noble  features,  in  that  pure  pale  countenance,  the 
stranger  recognised  with  amazement  him  whom  they 
had  sought  for — him  who  bore  the  features  of  the  great 
stone  face." 

Hawthorne  is  essentially  a  poet  and  idealist  by  nature. 
He  is,  for  profound,  contemplative  life,  that  which  N.  P. 
Willis,  with  his  witty,  lively  pen,  is  for  the  real  and  the 
outward.  The  former  seeks  to  penetrate  into  the  interior 
of  the  earth,  the  latter  makes  pen  and  ink  sketches  by 
the  way  ;  the  former  is  a  solitary  student,  the  latter  a  man 
of  the  world.  Hawthorne's  latest  work,  "  The  Scarlet 
Letter,"  is  making  just  now  a  great  sensation,  and  is 
praised  as  a  work  of  genius.  I  however  have  not  yet 
read  it,  and  there  is  a  something  in  its  title  which  does  not 
tempt  me.  Hawthorne  himself  is  said  to  be  a  handsome 
man,  but  belongs  to  the  retiring  class  of  poetical  natures. 
I  know  his  charming  wife  and  sister-in-law.  Both  are 
intellectual  women,  and  the  former  remarkably  pretty  and 
agreeable,  like  a  lovely  and  fragrant  flower.  The 
Hawthornes  are  thinking  of  removing  to  the  beautiful 

p  2 


212  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

lake-district  in  the  west  of  Massaclmsets,  to  Lenox, 
where  also  Miss  Sedgewick  resides.  They  have  kindly 
invited  me  to  their  house,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  become 
better  acquainted  with  the  author  of  the  "  Great  stone 
face." 

Cooper  and  Washington  Irving  (the  former  lives  on  his 
own  property  west  of  New  York)  have  already  by  their 
works  introduced  us  to  a  nearer  acquaintance  with  a  part 
of  the  world  of  which  we  before  knew  little  more  than  the 
names — Niagara  and  Washington.  After  these  poets  in 
prose,  several  ladies  of  the  Northern  States  have 
distinguished  themselves  as  the  authors  of  novels  and 
tales.  Foremost  and  best  of  these  are, — Miss  Catherine 
Sedgewick,  whose  excellent  characteristic  descriptions  and 
delineations  of  American  scenes  even  we  in  Sweden  are 
acquainted  with,  in  her  "  Eedwood  "  and  "Hope  Leslie  ;  " 
— Mrs.  Maria  Child,  who  in  her  pictures  of  the  life  of 
antiquity  as  well  as  that  of  the  present  time,  expresses 
her  love  for  the  ideal  beauty  of  life,  for  everything  which 
is  good,  noble  and  harmonious,  and  who  in  all  objects, 
in  mankind,  in  flowers,  stars,  institutions,  the  sciences, 
art,  and  in  human  events,  endeavours  to  find  the  point  or 
the  tone  wherein  they  respond  to  the  eternal  harmonies  ; 
a  restless  seeking  after  eternal  repose  in  the  music  of  the 
spheres,  a  Christian  Platonic  thinker,  a  Christian  in  heart 
and  deed  ; — Mrs.  Caroline  Kirkland,  witty,  humourous 
and  sarcastic,  but  based  upon  a  large  heart  and  a  fine 
understanding,  as  we  also  saw  by  her  delicious  book,  "  A 
New  Home  in  the  West ;  " — Miss  Maria  M'Intosh,  whom 
we  also  know  by  her  novel,  "  To  seem  or  to  be,"  and 
whose  everyday  life  is  her  most  beautiful  novel.  (But 
that  one  might  also  say  of  the  others.)  Of  Mrs.  Sigourney 
I  have  already  spoken.  Mrs.  L.  Hall,  the  author  of  a 
great  dramatic  poem  called  "Miriam,"  I  know  as  yet 
merely  by  report.  Of  the  lesser  authoresses  and 
poetesses  I  say  nothing,  for  they  are  legion.  The  latter 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  213 

sing  like  birds  in  spring  time.  There  are  a  great  many 
siskins,  bullfinches,  sparrows;  here  and  there  a  thrush 
with  its  deep  and  eloquent  notes,  beautiful  though  few  ; 
but  I  have  not  as  yet  heard  among  these  minstrels  either 
the  rich  inspiriting  song  of  the  lark  or  the  full  inspira 
tion  of  the  nightingale  ;  and  I  do  not  know  whether  this 
rich  artistic  inspiration  belongs  to  the  womanly  nature. 
I  have  not  in  general  much  belief  in  the  ability  of  woman 
as  a  creative  artist.  Unwritten  lyrics,  as  Emerson  once 
said  when  we  spoke  on  this  subject,  should  be  her  forte. 

The  young  Lowells  are  in  affliction.  Their  youngest 
child,  the  pretty  little  Rose,  is  dead.  James  Lowell  has 
just  informed  me  of  this  in  a  few  words.  I  must  go  to 
them ;  I  have  not  seen  them  for  a  long  time  now,  not 
since  that  little  child's  illness. 

February  Wth. — Now,  my  little  Agatha,  I  will  for  a 
moment  take  up  the  pen  and — 

February  loth. — Down  went  the  pen  just  as  I  had 
taken  hold  of  it. 

A  visitor  came  whom  I  was  obliged  to  receive,  and  then 
— and  then — Ah  !  how  little  of  life's  enjoyment  can  one 
have  in  this  hurrying  life,  although  it  may  be,  and  indeed 
is  honourable.  I  will  rest  for  one  day  from  opening 
notes  of  invitation,  requests  for  autographs,  verses, 
packets  and  parcels,  containing  presents  of  books  and 
flowers,  and  so  on.  I  cannot,  or  to  speak  more  properly, 
I  am  not  able  to  read  all  the  notes  and  letters  which  come 
to  me  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  merely  to  think  of 
answering  them  puts  me  in  a  fever,  and  then — people, 
people,  people !  !  ! 

In  the  meantime  I  am  heartily  thankful  to  God  and  my 
good  physician  that  my  health  is  so  much  better,  because 
it  will  now  enable  me  to  accept  more  adequately  the  good 
will  which  is  shown  towards  me,  and  for  which  I  feel 
grateful,  and  also  to  complete  my  campaign  in  the  country. 


2H  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  Mr.  B.  for  the  comfort 
which  he  has  afforded  me  in  Boston,  neither  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  K.,  my  kind  host  and  hostess  since  Mr.  B.  left. 
As  regards  my  convenience  and  comfort,  I  have  been 
treated  like  a  princess.  But  I  long  for  the  South,  long 
for  a  milder  climate,  and  for  life  with  nature.  I  long  also 
for  freer,  more  expansive  views,  for  the  immeasurable 
prairies,  for  the  wonderful  West,  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi.  There  for  the  first  time  they  tell  me  that  I 
shall  see  and  understand  what  America  will  become.  But 
this  much  I  do  understand  of  what  I  hear  about  the 
fertility  and  affluence  of  this  region — that  if  the  millennium 
is  ever  to  take  place  on  this  earth  it  must  be  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  said  to  be  ten  times  more 
extensive  than  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and  capable  of 
containing  a  population  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  souls. 

And  now,  my  little  heart,  I  will  give  you  a  bulletin 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  last  days  have  been  spent. 

I  went  to  Cambridge,  accompanied  by  the  estimable 
Professor  P.  Little  Rose  lay  shrouded  in  her  coffin, 
lovely  still,  but  much  older  in  appearance  ;  the  father 
sate  at  her  head  and  wept  like  a  child ;  Maria  wept 
too,  so  quietly,  and  I  wept  with  them,  as  you  may  well 
believe.  The  affectionate  young  couple  could  weep 
without  bitterness.  They  are  two,  they  are  one  in  love. 
They  can  bow  down  together  and  rest.  They  have 
both  very  susceptible  feelings,  and  sorrow  therefore 
takes  a  deep  hold  on  them.  Maria  told  me  that  little 
Mabel — she  is  three  years  old — came  early  in  the  morning 
to  her  bed  and  said,  "  Are  you  lonely  now,  mamma  ?  (little 
Rose  had  hitherto  always  slept  in  her  mother's  bed)  shall 
I  comfort  you  ?  " 

I  dined  with  Professor  P.,  but  I  was  distressed  in 
mind,  not  well,  and  not  very  amiable  either ;  I  therefore 
excused  myself  from  an  evening  party,  and  went  home. 


\ 

V.          \ 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  215 

If  people  could  but  know  how  much  I  suffer  from  this 
nervous  indisposition  they  would  excuse  an  apparent 
unfriendliness  which  exists  neither  in  my  disposition  nor 
my  heart.  In  the  evening  I  composed  myself  by  listening 
to  the  melodious  reading  of  young  Mr.  V. 

One  day  I  visited  the  celebrated  manufactory  of  Lowell, 
accompanied  by  a  young  agreeable  countryman  of  mine, 
Mr.  Wachenfelt,  who  has  been  resident  here  for  several 
years.  I  would  willingly  have  declined  the  journey, 
because  it  was  so  cold,  and  I  was  not  well,  but  they  had 
invited  strangers  to  meet  me,  got  up  an  entertainment, 
and  therefore  I  was  obliged  to  go.  And  I  did  not  regret 
it.  I  had  a  glorious  view  from  the  top  of  Drewcroft  Hill 
in  that  star-light  cold  winter  evening,  of  the  manufactories 
of  Lowell  lying  below  in  a  half-circle,  glittering  with  a 
thousand  lights  like  a  magic  castle  on  the  snow-covered 
earth.  And  then  to  think,  and  to  know,  that  these  lights 
were  not  ignes  fatui,  not  merely  pomp  and  show,  but  that 
they  were  actually  symbols  of  a  healthful  and  hopeful  life 
in  the  persons  whose  labour  they  lighted  ;  to^  know  that 
within  every  heart  in  this  palace  of  labour  burned  a  bright 
little  light,  illumining  a  future  of  comfort  and  prosperity 
which  every  day  and  every  turn  of  the  wheel  of  the 
machinery  only  brought  the  nearer.  In  truth  there  was  a 
deep  purpose  in  these  brilliant  lights,  and  I  beheld  this 
illumination  with  a  joy  which  made  the  winter's  night  feel 
warm  to  me. 

Afterwards  I  shook  hands  with  a  whole  crowd  of  people 
in  a  great  assembly,  and  the  party  was  kept  up  till  late  in 
the  night.  The  following  morning  I  visited  the  manu 
factories  and  saw  "  the  young  ladies  "  at  their  work  and  at 
their  dinner  ;  saw  their  boarding-houses,  sleeping-rooms, 
etc.  All  was  comfortable  and  nice  as  we  had  heard  it 
described.  Only  I  noticed  that  some  of  "  the  young 
ladies  "  were  about  fifty,  and  some  of  them  not  so  very 
well  clad,  while  others  again  were  too  fine.  I  was  most 


216  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

struck  by  the  relationship  between  the  human  being  and 
the  machinery.  Thus,  for  example,  I  saw  the  young  girls 
standing — each  one  between  four  busily  working  spinning 
jennies  :  they  walked  among  them,  looked  at  them,  watched 
over  and  guarded  them  much  as  a  mother  would 
watch  over  and  tend  her  children.  The  machinery  was 
like  an  obedient  child  under  the  eye  of  an  intelligent 
mother. 

The  procession  of  the  operatives,  two  and  two,  in 
shawls,  bonnets,  and  green  veils,  as  they  went  to  their 
dinner,  produced  a  fine  and  imposing  effect.  And  the 
dinners  which  I  saw  at  a  couple  of  tables  (they  take  their 
meals  at  small  tables  five  or  six  together)  appeared  to  be 
both  good  and  sufficient.  I  observed  that  besides  meat 
and  potatoes  there  were  fruit-tarts. 

Several  young  women  of  the  educated  class  at  Lowell 
were  introduced  to  me,  and  amongst  these  some  who  were 
remarkably  pretty.  After  this  my  companions  drove  me 
out  in  a  covered  carriage  over  the  crunching  snow  (there 
were  seventeen  degrees  of  cold  this  day)  that  I  might  see 
the  town  and  its  environs.  The  situation  is  beautiful,  on 
the  banks  of  the  cheerfully  rushing  Merrimac  river  (the 
laughing  river),  and  the  views  from  the  higher  parts  of  the 
town  as  far  as  the  white  mountains  of  New  Hampshire, 
which  raise  their  snowy  crowns  above  every  other  object, 
are  extensive  and  magnificent.  The  town  was  laid  out 
somewhat  above  thirty  years  ago  by  the  great  uncle  of 
James  Lowell,  and  has  increased  from  a  population  at 
that  time  amounting  to  a  few  hundred  persons,  to  thirty 
thousand,  and  the  houses  have  increased  in  proportion. 

Much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  good  character  of  the 
young  female  operatives  at  the  time  of  their  entering  the 
manufactories,  and  upon  their  behaviour  during  the  period 
of  their  remaining  there.  One  or  two  elopements  I  heard 
spoken  of.  But  the  life  of  labour  here  is  more  powerful 
than  the  life  of  romance,  although  that  too  lives  in  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  217 

hearts  and  heads  of  the  young  girls,  and  it  would  be  bad 
were  it  otherwise. 

The  industrious  and  skilful  can  earn  from  six  to  eight 
dollars  per  wee!:,  never  less  than  three,  and  so  much  is 
requisite  for  their  board  each  week,  as  I  was  told.  The 
greater  number  lay  by  money,  and  in  a  few  years  are  able 
to  leave  the  manufactory  and  undertake  less  laborious 
work. 

In  the  evening  I  returned  by  railway  to  Boston, 
accompanied  by  the  agreeable  Wachenfelt,  who  seemed  to 
be  very  much  taken  with  the  inhabitants  of  Lowell.  I 
lost  one  thing  by  my  visit  to  Lowell,  which  I  regret  having 
lost;  that  was  the  being  present  at  Fanny  Kemble's 
reading  of  "  Macbeth  "  the  same  evening.  The  newspaper 
had  published  the  same  day  a  full  account  of  the  judicial 
examination  into  the  Parkman  murder,  and  its  melancholy 
details  had  so  affected  Fanny  Kemble's  imagination,  as 
she  herself  said,  that  it  gave  to  her  reading  of  the 
Shakspearian  drama  a  horrible  reality,  and  to  the  night- 
scene  with  the  witches,  as  well  as  to  the  whole  piece,  an 
almost  supernatural  power,  as  I  have  been  told  by  several 
persons  who  were  present. 

I  went  last  Sunday  with  Miss  Sedgewick,  who  is 
come  to  the  city  for  a  few  days,  and  two  gentlemen,  to 
the  sailors'  church  to  hear  Father  Taylor,  a  celebrated 
preacher.  He  is  a  real  genius,  and  delighted  me.  What 
warmth,  what  originality,  what  affluence  in  new  turns  of 
thought,  and  in  poetical  painting  !  He  ought  of  a  truth 
to  be  able  to  awaken  the  spiritually  dead.  On  one  occa 
sion,  when  he  had  been  speaking  of  the  wicked  and  sinful 
man  and  his  condition,  he  suddenly  broke  off  and  began 
to  describe  a  spring  morning  in  the  country ;  the  beauty 
of  the  surrounding  scene,  the  calmness,  the  odour,  the 
dew  upon  grass  and  leaf,  the  uprising  of  the  sun ;  then 
again  he  broke  off,  and  returning  to  the  wicked  man, 
placed  him  amid  this  glorious  scene  of  nature — but,  "  the 


218  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

unfortunate  one  !  He  cannot  enjoy  it !  "  Another  time,  as 
I  was  told,  lie  entered  his  church  with  an  expression  of 
profound  sorrow,  with  bowed  head,  and  without  looking  to 
the  right  and  the  left  as  is  his  custom  (N.B.  He  must 
pass  through  the  church  in  order  to  reach  the  pulpit), 
and  without  nodding  kindly  to  friends  and  acquaint 
ances.  All  wondered  what  could  have  come  to  Father 
Tajdor.  He  mounted  the  pulpit,  and  then  bowing 
down,  as  if  in  the  deepest  affliction,  exclaimed,  "  Lord 
have  mercy  upon  us  because  we  are  a  widow !  "  And  so 
saying  he  pointed  down  to  a  coffin  which  he  had  had 
placed  in  the  aisle  below  the  pulpit.  One  of  the  sailors 
belonging  to  the  congregation  had  just  died,  leaving  a 
widow  and  many  small  children  without  any  means  of 
support.  Father  Taylor  now  placed  himself  and  the 
congregation  in  the  position  of  the  widow,  and  described 
so  forcibly  their  grief,  their  mournful  countenances, 
and  their  desolate  condition,  that  at  the  close  of  the 
sermon  the  congregation  rose  as  one  man,  and  so  con 
siderable  was  the  contribution  which  was  made  for  the 
widow,  that  she  was  raised  at  once  above  want.  In  fact 
our  coldly  moralising  clergy  who  read  their  written 
sermons  ought  to  come  hither  and  learn  how  they  may 
touch  and  win  souls. 

After  the  service  I  was  introduced  to  Father  Taylor  and 
his  agreeable  wife,  who  in  disposition  is  as  warm-hearted  as 
himself.  The  old  man  (he  is  about  sixty)  has  a  remarkably 
lively  and  expressive  countenance,  full  of  deep  furrows. 
When  we  thanked  him  for  the  pleasure  which  his  sermon 
had  afforded  us,  he  replied,  "  Oh  !  there's  an  end,  an  end  of 
me  !  I  am  quite  broken  down !  I  am  obliged  to  screw 
myself  up  to  get  up  a  little  steam.  It's  all  over  with  me 
now !  " 

Whilst  he  was  thus  speaking,  he  looked  up,  and 
exclaimed  with  a  beaming  countenance,  "  What  do  I  see  ? 
Oh  my  son !  my  son !  "  And  extending  his  arms  he  went 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  219 

forward  to  meet  a  gigantically  tall  young  man,  who,  with 
joy  beaming  on  his  fresh,  good-tempered  countenance,  was 
coming  through  the  church,  and  now  threw  himself  with 
great  fervour  into  Father  Taylor's  arms,  and  then  into 
those  of  his  wife. 

"  Is  all  right  here,  my  son  ?  "  asked  Taylor,  laying  his 
hand  on  his  breast ;  "  has  all  been  well  kept  here  ?  Has 
the  heart  not  become  hardened  by  the  gold  ?  But  I  see 
it,  I  see  it !  All  right !  all  right !  "  said  he,  as  he  saw 
large  tears  in  the  young  man's  eyes.  "  Thank  God  !  God 
bless  thee,  my  son  !  "  And  with  that  there  was  again  a 
fresh  embracing. 

The  young  man  was  a  sailor,  no  way  related  to  Father 
Taylor,  except  spiritually ;  who,  having  been  seized  by  the 
California!!  fever,  had  set  off  to  get  gold,  and  now  had 
returned  after  an  interval  of  a  year,  but  whether  with  or 
without  gold,  I  know  not.  But  it  was  evident  that  the 
heart  had  not  lost  its  health.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal 
about  the  kindness  and  liberality  of  Father  Tajlor  and 
his  wife,  in  particular  to  poor  sailors  of  all  nations. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  I  attended  divine 
service  in  the  chapel  of  Mr.  Barnard,  as  I  had  been 
invited  to  do,  and  I  saw  in  his  house  proofs  of  this  man's 
admirable  activity  in  the  aid  of  the  poor  and  the 
unfortunate  by  means  of  education  and  work.  There 
were  present  in  the  chapel  about  five  hundred  children, 
and  after  the  service  I  shook  hands  with  the  whole  five 
hundred  little  republicans,  male  and  female,  and  with 
some  of  them  twice  over ;  the  boys  were  especially  zealous, 
and  noble  merry  lads  they  were.  The  earnest  and 
effective  means  which  are  in  operation  throughout  this 
State  for  the  education  of  the  rising  generation  are  the 
most  certain  and  beautiful  signs  of  its  own  fresh  vitality 
and  an  augury  of  a  great  future. 

Mr.  Barnard  is  a  missionary  of  the  Unitarian  commu 
nity,  and  one  of  its  most  zealous  members  in  its  labours 


220  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

of  human  kindness.  N.B.  Most  of  the  larger  sects  in 
this  country  have  their  missionaries,  or,  as  they  are  also 
called  here,  "  ministers  at  large,"  whom  they  send  forth  to 
preach  the  word,  establish  schools  or  perform  works  of 
mercy,  and  who  are  maintained  by  the  community  to 
which  they  belong,  and  whose  influence  they  thus 
extend. 

I  have  during  my  stay  in  Boston  visited  different 
churches,  and  it  has  so  happened  that  the  greatest 
number  of  them  have  belonged  to  the  Unitarian  body. 
So  great  indeed  is  the  predominance  of  this  sect  in 
Boston,  that  it  is  generally  called  "  the  Unitarian  city." 
And  as  it  has  also  happened  that  many  of  my  most 
intimate  acquaintances  here  are  of  this  faith,  it  has  been 
believed  by  many  that  I  also  am  of  it.  You  know  how 
far  I  am  otherwise,  and  how  insufficient  and  how  unsatis 
fying  to  my  mind  were  those  religious  views  which  I  held 
during  a  few  months  of  my  life — and  which  I  abandoned 
for  others  more  comprehensive.  Here  in  this  country 
however  it  is  more  consistent  with  my  feelings  not  to 
follow  my  own  sympathies,  but  to  make  myself  acquainted 
with  every  important  phase  of  feeling  or  intellect  in  its 
fullest  individuality.  I  therefore  endeavour  to  see  and  to 
study  in  every  place  that  which  is  its  characteristic. 
Hence  I  shall  in  America  visit  the  churches  of  every 
sect,  and  hear  if  possible  the  most  remarkable  teachers 
of  all.  The  differences  of  these,  however  important  they 
may  be  for  the  speculative  understanding  of  the  entire 
system  of  life,  are  of  much  less  importance  to  practical 
Christianity  and  to  the  inward  life.  And  therefore  in 
reality  they  trouble  me  but  very  little.  All  Christian 
sects  acknowledge,  after  all,  the  same  God ;  the  same 
divine  mediator  and  teacher ;  the  same  duty ;  the  same 
love  ;  the  same  eternal  hope.  The  various  churches  are 
various  families,  who  having  gone  forth  from  the  same 
father  are  advancing  towards  eternal  mansions  in  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  221 

house  of  the  Eternal  Father.  Every  one  has  his  separate 
mission  to  accomplish  in  the  kingdom  of  mind.  God 
has  given  different  gifts  of  understanding,  and  thence 
different  forms  of  comprehension  and  expression  of  truth. 
By  this  means  truth  in  its  many-sidedness  is  a  gainer. 
And  the  full  discussion  even  of  the  highest  subjects, 
which  takes  place  in  the  different  churches  of  this  country, 
as  well  as  in  the  pages  of  their  public  organs  (for  every 
one  of  the  more  considerable  religious  sects  has  its  own 
publication,  which  diffuses  its  own  doctrines  as  wrell  as 
reports  the  transactions  of  its  body)  are  of  infinite 
importance  for  the  development  of  the  religious  mind  of 
the  people.  Besides  this,  it  must  tend  to  an  increasingly 
clear  knowledge  of  the  essential  points  of  resemblance  in 
all  Christian  communities,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  positive 
in  Christianity,  and  must  prepare  the  way  by  degrees  for  a 
church  universal  in  character  and  with  a  oneness  of  view, 
even  in  dogmas. 

The  two  great  divisions  of  the  church  in  the  United 
States  appear  to  be  those  of  the  Trinitarian  and  Uni 
tarian.  The  Unitarians  arose  in  opposition  to  the 
doctrine  of  a  mechanical  Trinity,  and  the  petrified  old 
state-church  (the  Episcopalian)  which  held  it.  The  latter 
lays  most  stress  upon  faith,  the  former  on  works.  Both 
acknowledge  Christ  (the  one  as  God,  the  other  as  divine 
humanity)  and  regard  him  as  the  highest  object  for  the 
imitation  of  man.  Both  have  individuals  within  their 
pale  who  prove  that  in  either  it  is  possible  to  advance  as 
far  and  to  deserve  in  as  high  a  degree  the  name  of  a 
Christian. 

I  have  heard  two  good  sermons  from  the  clergy  of  the 
old  state-church  in  this  country.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  church  is  regarded  as  the  peculiarly  aristocratic 
church  here,  and  that  the  fashionable  portion  of  society 
generally  belongs  to  it ;  it  belongs  to  people  of  good  ton. 
But  the  speculative  mind  in  the  church  appears  to  me  not 


222  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

yet  to  have  come  forth  from  its  cave  of  the  middle 
ages ;  they  still  oppose  faith  to  reason,  and  there 
appears  not  yet  to  be  within  the  realm  of  theology  an 
enlightened  mind  like  that  of  our  H.  Martinsen  in  the 
North.  I  say  this  however  without  heing  fully  certain  on 
the  subject.  I  have  not  yet  heard  or  read  sufficiently  the 
theological  literature  of  this  country. 

The  most  distinguished  leader  and  champion  of 
Unitarianism  in  this  country,  Dr.  Ellery  Channing,  called 
also  the  Unitarian  Saint,  from  the  remarkable  beauty  of 
his  character  and  demeanour,  showed  how  far  a  human 
being  might  go  in  his  imitation  of  Christ.  I  have  heard 
many  instances  related  by  his  friends  of  the  deep 
earnestness,  of  the  heart-felt  sincerity  with  which  this 
noble  man  sought  after  the  just  and  the  pure  mode  of 
action  in  every  case,  even  in  the  most  trifling.  One  may 
see  in  his  portrait  a  glance  which  is  not  of  this  world, 
which  neither  seeks  for  nor  asks  anything  here,  but  which 
seeks  for  and  inquires  from  a  higher  friend  and  councillor. 
One  may  see  it  also  in  his  biography,  and  in  the  Detached 
letters  lately  published  by  his  nephew,  H.  W.  Channing, 
and  which  the  latter  has  had  the  kindness  to  send  to  me. 
I  read  them  occasionally,  and  cannot  but  think  of  your 
favourite  text : — "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God." 

How  pure  and  beautiful  for  instance  is  the  sentiment 
which  is  contained  in  these  words,  which  I  now  take  at 
random  from  the  volume  before  me : 

"  Eeflect  how  unjust  you  are  towards  yourself  if  you 
allow  any  human  being  to  hinder  the  growth  of  a  soul 
such  as  yours.  Bear  in  mind  that  you  were  created  to 
love  infinitely,  to  love  eternally,  and  do  not  allow  an 

unrequited  affection  to  close  this  divine  spring. 

*  *  *  *  * 

"  I  cannot  reprove  your  wish  to  die.  I  know  no  advan 
tage  greater  than  that  of  death,  but  it  is  an  advantage  for 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  223 

those  in  whom  evil  has  been  more  and  more  subdued,  and 
who  have  been  continually  gaining  an  ascendancy  over 
self.  I  should  be  glad  to  awaken  that  disinterested  self- 
sacrificing  human  love,  both  in  you  and  in  myself,  as  well 
as  a  more  profound  consciousness  of  our  own  spiritual 
nature,  reliance  on  the  divine  principle  within  us,  the 
innermost  work  of  our  loving,  and  on  God's  infinite  love 
to  that  divine  life.  Nothing  can  harm  us  but  infidelity  to 
ourselves,  but  want  of  reverence  for  our  own  sublime 
spirit.  Through  failure  in  this  respect  we  become  slaves 
to  circumstances  and  to  our  fellow  men." 

Everywhere,  and  on  all  occasions,  one  sees  Channing 
turning  to  that  divine  teacher  in  the  human  breast,  which 
is  one  with  the  divine  spirit  of  God  for  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law,  and  it  is  from  this  inward  point  of  view  that  he 
regulated  his  outward  conduct. 

And  never  indeed  has  God's  blessing  more  visibly 
rested  upon  a  human  being.  How  fresh,  how  full  are  the 
expressions  of  his  joy  and  gratitude  as  he  became  older  ; 
how  he  seemed  to  become  younger  and  happier  with  each 
passing  year !  He  reproached  himself  with  having 
enjoyed  too  much,  with  being  too  happy  in  a  world  where 
so  many  suffered.  But  he  could  not  help  it.  Friends, 
nature,  the  invisible  fountains  of  love  and  gratitude  in  his 
soul — all  united  themselves  to  beautify  his  life.  All  only 
the  more  enlarged  his  sphere  of  vision,  all  the  more, 
during  declining  health,  increased  his  faith  and  hope  in 
God  and  man,  all  the  more  his  love  for  life,  that  great, 
glorious  life  ! 

It  was  during  his  old  age  that  he  wrote — 

"  Our  natural  affections  become  more  and  more  beautiful 
to  me.  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I  had  known  nothing  of 
human  life  until  lately — but  so  it  will  be  for  ever.  We 
shall  wake  up  to  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  in  what  we 
have  seen  with  undiscerning  eyes,  and  find  a  new  creation 
without  moving  a  step  from  our  old  haunts." 


224  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

He  often  spoke  of  his  enjoyment  of  life  in  advancing 
years.  Somebody  asked  him  one  day  what  age  he  con 
sidered  as  the  happiest.  He  replied  with  a  smile,  that  he 
considered  it  to  be  about  sixty. 

During  the  illness,  which,  gradually  wasting  him  away, 
ended  his  days,  his  inward  life  seemed  to  increase  in 
fervour  and  strength.  He  inquired  with  the  most  cordial 
interest  about  the  circumstances  of  those  who  came  to 
visit  him.  Every  human  being  seemed  to  have  become 
more  important  and  dearer  to  him,  and  yet  all  the  while 
his  brain  kept  ceaselessly  labouring  with  great  thoughts 
and  objects. 

"  Can  you  help  me,"  said  he  to  his  friends  during  his 
last  days,  "  to  draw  down  my  soul  to  every- day  things 
from  these  crowds  of  images,  these  scenes  of  infinitude, 
this  torrent  of  thought  ?  " 

Once,  when  some  one  was  reading  to  him,  he  said, 
"  Leave  that ;  let  me  hear  about  people  and  their  affairs ! " 

He  was  often  heard,  during  his  last  painless  struggle, 
to  say,  "  Heavenly  Father  !  "  His  last  words  were,  "  I  do 
not  know  when  my  heart  was  ever  so  overflowed  with  a 
grateful  sense  of  the  goodness  of  God  !  "  And  his  last 
feeble  whisper  was,  "  I  have  received  many  messages  from 
the  Spirit ! " 

"As  the  day  declined,"  adds  his  biographer,  "his 
countenance  fell,  he  became  weaker  and  weaker.  With 
our  aid  he  turned  himself  towards  the  window  which 
looked  out  over  the  valleys  and  wooded  heights  to  the  east. 
We  drew  aside  the  curtains  and  the  light  fell  on  his  face. 
The  sun  had  just  gone  down,  and  the  clouds  and  sky 
were  brilliant  with  crimson  and  gold.  He  breathed  more 
and  more  softly,  and,  without  a  sigh,  the  body  fell  asleep. 
We  knew  not  when  the  spirit  departed." 

Thus  only  can  sink  a  sun-like  human  being ;  thus  only 
can  die  a  man  whom  God  loves,  and  in  whose  heart  His 
Spirit  abides. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  225 

How  great  a  power  this  true  Christian  exercised  upon 
others,  I  can  judge  from  the  following  little  occurrence. 

One  day  I  was  walking  with  Mr.  B.  through  the 
streets  of  Boston,  and  as  we  passed  one  house,  he  bowed 
his  head  reverentially  as  he  said,  "  That  is  a  house  which 
for  several  years  I  never  approached  without  feelings  of 
the  most  heartfelt  reverence  and  love.  There  dwelt 
Dr.  Channing  ! " 

As  regards  my  own  private  friends,  I  do  not  trouble 
myself  in  the  least  to  what  religious  sect  they  belong — 
Trinitarians  or  Unitarians,  Calvinists  or  Baptists,  or 
whatever  it  may  be — but  merely  that  they  are  noble  and 
worthy  to  be  loved.  Here  also  are  many  people,  who 
without  belonging  to  any  distinct  church,  attend  any  one 
where  there  is  a  good  preacher,  and  for  the  rest,  live 
according  to  the  great  truths  which  Christianity  utters, 
and  which  they  receive  into  their  hearts.  Some  of  my 
best  friends  in  this  country  belong  to  the  invisible  church 
of  God. 

February  IQth. — What  beautiful  days  !  Three  days  of 
the  most  delicious  spring  weather.  And  this  luxurious 
blue  heaven,  and  this  air,  so  pure,  so  spiritually  full  of 
life,  and  as  it  were  so  intoxicating.  I  have  not  felt  any 
thing  like  it !  I  become  as  it  were  permeated  by  it.  I  have 
been  so  well  these  last  days,  have  felt  such  a  flood  of  fresh 
life  in  me  that  it  has  made  me  quite  happy  and  childish 
enough  to  feel  a  desire  to  tell  everybody  so,  and  to  bid 
them  rejoice  with  me.  I  know  that  many  would  do  so  ; 
and  I  know  that  I  myself  should  be  glad  to  know  some  one 
who  having  suffered  as  I  have  done,  now  feel  as  I  do.  In 
my  joy  I  compelled  my  little  allopathic  doctor,  Miss  H., 
to  thank  God  for  the  progress  which  I  and  the  homoeo 
pathic  doctor  had  made.  And  she  did  so  with  all  her 
heart.  She  has  a  heart  as  good  as  gold. 

I  have,  these  beautiful  days,  enjoyed  the  weather  and 
my  walks,  and  the  company  of  agreeable  people,  and- — 

VOL.  I.  Q 


226  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOKLD. 

the  whole  world.  One  day  Mr.  Longfellow  came  and 
took  me  to  dine  with  them  at  his — father-in-law's  I 
believe  (you  know  that  my  strength  never  lay  in  genea 
logy),  Mr.  A.'s.  This  was  on  the  first  of  the  beautiful 
days,  and  as  soon  as  I  came  out  of  my  gate  I  stood 
quite  amazed  at  the  beauty  of  the  sky  and  the  deli- 
ciousness  of  the  air.  I  told  the  amiable  poet  that  I 
thought  it  must  have  been  himself  that  had  enchanted 
them. 

The  A.'s  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  homes  I 
have  yet  seen  in  Boston;  the  elderly  couple  are  both 
handsome  ;  he  an  invalid,  but  with  the  most  kind  and 
amiable  temper ;  she,  cheerful  both  body  and  soul,  and 
very  agreeable.  With  them  and  the  Longfellows  I  had  a 
charming  little  dinner. 

On  Monday  the  Longfellows  had  a  cast  taken  of  my 
hand  in  plaster  of  Paris ;  for  here,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  a 
prevailing  error  that  my  hands  are  beautful,  whereas  they 
are  only  delicate  and  small.  When  I  returned  I  found 
my  room  full  of  people.  N.B.,  it  was  my  reception-day, 
and  I  had  stayed  out  beyond  my  time.  But  I  was  all 
the  more  polite,  and  I  fancy  that  no  one  was  displeased. 
I  felt  myself  this  day  to  be  a  regular  philanthrope ;  thus 
the  people  stayed  till  past  three  o'clock. 

When  my  visitors  were  gone  the  young  Lowells  came 
for  the  first  time  since  their  loss,  and  Maria  set  down 
upon  the  floor  a  basket  full  of  the  most  beautiful  mosses 
and  lichens,  which  she  and  James  had  gathered  on  the  hill 
for  me,  as  they  knew  I  was  fond  of  them.  This  affected  me 
sincerely  ;  and  it  affected  me  also  to  see  again  the  same 
kind  of  plants  which  I  myself  had  gathered  on  the  hill  in 
the  park  at  Arsta,  and  I  could  not  help  it — I  watered 
them  with  tears  ;  my  soul  is  like  a  heaving  sea,  the  waves 
of  which  flow  and  ebb  alternately.  But  they  are  swayed 
in  both  cases  by  the  same  element. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Waldo  Emerson  called  on  me,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  227 

we  had  a  very  serious  conversation  together.  I  was  afraid 
that  the  admiration  and  the  delight  with  which  he  had 
inspired  me  had  caused  me  to  withhold  my  own  confession 
of  faith — had  caused  me  apparently  to  pay  homage  to  his, 
and  thereby  to  be  unfaithful  to  my  own  higher  love.  This 
I  could  not  be.  And  exactly  because  I  regarded  him  as 
being  so  noble  and  magnanimous  I  wished  to  become  clear 
before  him  as  well  as  before  my  own  conscience.  I  wished 
also  to  hear  what  objection  he  could  bring  forward  against 
a  world  as  viewed  from  the  Christian  point  of  view,  which 
in  concrete  life  and  reality  stands  so  infinitely  above  that 
of  the  pantheist,  which  resolves  all  concrete  life  into  the 
elemental.  I  fancied  that  he,  solely  from  the  interest  of 
a  speculative  question,  would  have  been  led  out  of  the 
universal  into  the  inward.  Because,  when  all  is  said 
which  the  wisdom  of  antiquity  and  of  the  noblest 
stoicism  can  say  about  the  Supreme  Being,  about  the 
"  superior  soul "  as  an  infinite  law-giving,  impersonal 
power,  which  brings  forth,  and  then,  regardless  of  any 
individual  fate,  absorbs  into  itself  all  beings,  who  must 
all  blindly  submit  themselves  as  to  an  eternally  unjust 
and  unsympathetic  law  of  the  world, — how  great  and 
perfect  is  the  doctrine  that  God  is  more  than  this  law  of 
the  world ;  that  he  is  a  Father  who  regards  every  human 
being  as  His  child,  and  has  prepared  for  each,  according  to 
their  kind,  an  eternal  inheritance  in  His  house,  in  His 
light ;  that  He  beholds  even  the  falling  sparrow ; — this  is 
a  doctrine  which  satisfies  the  soul !  And  when  all  is 
said  which  the  noblest  stoicism  can  say  to  man  about  his 
duty  and  his  highest  nobility,  if  it  made  Epictetes  and 
Socrates,  and  set  Simeon  Stylites  on  his  pillar,  how 
incomparably  high  and  astonishing  is  this  command  to 
mankind : 

"  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect !  " — 

A  command,  a  purpose  which  it  requires  an  eternity  to 

attain  to  !     And  when  all  is  said  which  all  the  wise  men 

Q2 


228  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  the  old  world,  and  all  the  transcenclentalists  of  the 
new  world  can  say  ahout  the  original  nobility  of  the  soul, 
and  her  ability  to  keep  herself  noble  by  constantly  having 
her  regards  fixed  on  the  ideal,  and  by  avoiding  the  rabble 
and  the  trash  of  ^the  earth  ;  and  when  the  endeavours  of 
the  transcendentalists — when  the  divinely  aspiring  spark 
within  us  makes  us  acknowledge  the  poverty  of  this  merely 
negative  point  of  view,  and  our  inability  to  attain  to  the 
highest  requirement  of  our  better  nature ;  then  how  great 
and  consolatory,  how  conclusive  is  the  doctrine  which  says 
that  the  divine  Spirit  will  put  itself  in  connection  with 
our  spirit,  and  satisfy  all  our  wants  by  the  inflowing  of 
its  life  ! 

This  most  extreme  vitalising  process,  this  "  new  birth  " 
and  new  development,  which  the  Scriptures  often  speak 
of  as  a  marriage,  as  the  coming  of  the  bridegroom  to  the 
bride,  as  a  new  birth,  which  we  may  see  every  day 
exhibited  in  natural  life — as,  for  instance,  by  the  grafting 
of  a  noble  fruit-tree  upon  a  wild  stock — is  finally  the  only 
explanation  of  human  life  and  its  yearning  endeavours. 

This  is  what  I  wished  to  say  to  Emerson ;  what  I 
endeavoured  to  say,  but  I  know  not  how  I  did  it.  I 
cannot  usually  express  myself  either  easily  or  successfully 
until  I  become  warm,  and  get  beyond  or  through  the  first 
thoughts  :  and  Emerson's  cool,  and  as  it  were,  circumspect 
manner,  prevented  me  from  getting  into  my  own  natural 
region.  I  like  to  be  with  him,  but  when  with  him  I  am 
never  fully  myself.  I  do  not  believe  that  I  now  expressed 
myself  intelligibly  to  him.  He  listened  calmly  and  said 
nothing  decidedly  against  it,  nor  yet  seemed  inclined  to 
give  his  views  as  definite.  He  seemed  to  me  principally 
to  be  opposed  to  blind  or  hypocritical  faith. 

"  I  do  not  wish,"  said  he,  "  that  people  should  pretend 
to  know  or  to  believe  more  than  they  really  do  know 
and  believe.  The  resurrection,  the  continuance  of  our 
being  is  granted,"  said  he  also;  "we  carry  the  pledge 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  229 

of  this  in  our  own  breast;  I  maintain  merely  that  we 
cannot  say  in  what  form  or  in  what  manner  our 
existence  will  be  continued." 

If  my  conversation  with  Emerson  did  not  lead  to  any 
thing  very  satisfactory,  it  led  nevertheless  to  my  still 
more  firm  conviction  of  his  nobility  and  love  of  truth. 
He  is  faithful  to  the  law  in  his  own  breast,  and  speaks 
out  the  truth  which  he  inwardly  recognises.  He  does 
right.  By  this  means  he  will  prepare  the  way  for  a 
more  true  comprehension  of  religion  and  of  life.  For 
when  once  this  keen  glance,  seeing  into  the  innermost 
of  everything — once  becomes  aware  of  the  concealed 
human  form  in  the  tree  of  life — like  Napoleon's  in  the 
tree  at  St.  Helena — then  will  he  teach  others  to  see  it 
too,  will  point  it  out  by  such  strong  new  and  glorious 
words,  that  a  fresh  light  will  spring  up  before  many, 
and  people  will  believe  because  they  see. 

At  the  conclusion  of  our  conversation  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  giving  Emerson  "  Geijer's  History  of  Sweden," 
translated  into  English,  which  he  accepted  in  the  most 
graceful  manner.  I  have  never  seen  a  more  beautiful 
smile  than  Emerson's ;  the  eyes  cast  a  light  upon  it. 
Mr.  Downing's  is  the  only  smile  which  resembles  it; 
it  is  less  brilliant,  but  has  a  more  romantic  grace  about  it. 

Later  in  the  evening  I  heard  Emerson  deliver  a  public 
lecture  on  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Times."  He  praised  the 
ideas  of  the  Liberals  as  beautiful,  but  castigated  with  great 
severity  the  popular  leaders  and  their  want  of  nobility  of 
character.  The  perversity  and  want  of  uprightness  in 
party  spirit  prevented  the  upright  from  uniting  with  any 
party.  Emerson  advised  them  to  wait  for  and  look  for 
the  time  when  a  man  might  work  for  the  public  without 
having  to  forego  his  faith  and  his  character. 

Emerson  is  much  celebrated  both  here  and  in  England 
as  a  lecturer.  I  do  not,  for  my  part,  think  him  more 
remarkable  as  such  than  during  a  private  conversation  on 


230  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

some  subject  of  deep  interest.  There  is  the  same  deep, 
strong,  and  at  the  same  time  melodious,  as  it  were 
metallic  tones ;  the  same  plastic  turns  of  expression,  the 
same  happy  phraseology,  naturally  brilliant ;  the  same 
calm  and  reposing  strength.  But  his  glance  is  beautiful 
as  he  casts  it  over  his  audience,  and  his  voice  seems  more 
powerful  as  he  sways  them.  The  weather  however  was 
this  evening  horrible ;  the  wind  was  very  high,  and  the 
rain  fell  in  torrents,  (for  it  never  rains  here  softly  or  in 
moderation)  and  very  few  people  were  present  at  the 
lecture.  Emerson  took  it  all  very  coolly,  and  merely  said 
to  some  one,  "  one  cannot  fire  off  one's  great  guns  for  so 
few  people." 

I  have  visited  to-day  the  Navy  Yard  of  Boston  and 
Massachusetts,  and  have  shaken  hands  with  the  officers  of 
the  fleet  and  their  ladies  at  a  collation  given  at  the  house 
of  the  Commodore,  during  the  whole  of  which  we  were 
regaled  with  fine  instrumental  music.  It  is  a  magnificent 
Navy  Yard,  and  the  whole  thing  was  beautiful  and  kind, 
and  afforded  me  pleasure. 

I  have  this  week  also  visited,  in  company  with  the 
distinguished  school-teacher,  Gr.  B.  Emerson  (the  uncle 
of  "Waldo),  some  of  the  common  schools,  and  could  not  but 
be  pleased  with  the  excellent  manner  in  which  the 
children  read,  the  girls  in  particular,  that  is  to  say,  with 
so  much  life  and  expression,  that  one  saw  they  fully 
understood  both  the  words  and  the  meaning ;  they  also 
answered  questions  in  natural  history  extremely  well. 
Mr.  E.  has  himself  a  large  private  school  which  is  much 
celebrated. 

In  the  evening  I  am  going  to  Fanny  Kemble's  reading 
of  Shakspeare's  "  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  and  after 
that  with  Emerson  to  a  musical  soiree  at  the  house  of  a 
wealthy  merchant,  his  friend  Mr.  A.,  whom  he  greatly 
esteems  for  his  practical  abilities  as  well  as  for  his  honest 
decided  character. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  231 

And  now,  my  little  Agatha,  I  am  preparing  to  set  off  to 
the  South,  first  to  New  York,  then  to  Philadelphia,  then 
to  Washington,  then  to  Charleston  in  South  Carolina ; 
from  which  place  I  shall  farther  decide  on  my  course. 
Thank  God,  I  now  feel  strong  and  capable  of  the  journey. 
I  have  invitations  and  offers  of  homes  from  all  quarters, 
nearly  from  every  one  of  the  States.  From  Philadelphia 
alone  I  have  above  half  a  dozen.  Some  of  them  I  cannot 
accept ;  others  I  can  accept  with  pleasure,  but  in  any  case 
it  is  good  to  experience  so  much  warm  and  ready  hospi 
tality. 

My  good  physician  continues  daily  to  visit  and  watch 
over  me,  I  might  almost  say  with  fatherly  tenderness. 
He  brought  with  him  to-day  an  allopathic  physician, 
Dr.  W.,  whom  he  wished  to  introduce  to  me,  because, 
said  he,  "  I  have  a  high  esteem  for  him."  Dr.  W.  has  for 
several  weeks  together,  with  two  other  allopathic  physi 
cians,  attended  a  gentleman  who  has  been  ill  of  typhus 
fever,  and  who  lives  not  far  from  Mr.  B.,  one  of  the 
brothers  C.,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated  preachers 
of  Boston.  The  crisis  of  the  fever  had  happily  passed  ; 
the  patient  lived,  but  continued  to  be  ill  with  a  great 
number  of  important  symptoms,  which  defied,  week  after 
week,  all  the  skill  and  experience  of  the  physicians.  One 
of  them,  Dr.  W.,  said,  "  We  have  done  all  that  is  in  our 
power  as  allopathists.  We  will  call  in  a  homoeopathist 
and  let  him  try  his  skill."  My  doctor  was  called  in.  He 
immediately  began  by  applying  specifics  against  the 
symptoms  which  caused  the  chaotic  state  of  the  disease, 
and  got  rid  of  them  within  six  and  thirty  hours  or  less. 
The  patient  was  brought  into  a  calm  state,  when  after  an 
examination  of  homoeopathic  accuracy  it  was  discovered 
that  a  tumour  had  begun  to  form  in  his  left  side, 
which  had  naturally  kept  up  his  feverish  state.  This 
was  operated  upon,  and  the  sick  man  is  now  in  a 
perfectly  convalescent  state,  to  the  great  joy  of  his 


232  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

family  and  Ms  many  friends.    See  now  what  homoeopathy 
can  do  ! 

I  lately  heard  a  little  hoy  spoken  of,  who  in  consequence 
of  having  taken  cold  had  an  attack  of  acute  rheumatism, 
and  lay  in  a  state  of  such  horrible  suffering  that  he  could 
not  hear  any  one  to  come  near  him,  and  he  hecame 
almost  free  from  pain  through  homoeopathic  treatment 
within  twelve  hours.  My  good  doctor  was  an  allopathist 
in  his  younger  days,  and  from  over-exertion  in  his  pro 
fession,  suffered  to  that  degree  from  neuralgia  that  the 
physicians  gave  him  up,  and  as  a  last  resource  sent  him 
over  to  Europe.  There  he  met  with  Hannemann,  who  did 
not  convince  him  hy  his  teaching,  hut  induced  him  to 
make  trial  of  his  means  of  cure.  These  immediately 
produced  the  most  favourable  results  in  his  condition, 
and  in  so  doing  changed  his  medical  theory.  When  he 
returned  to  America  he  was  quite  well,  and  a  homce- 
opathist.  And  I  too  praise  homoeopathy.  But  I  believe 
at  the  same  time  that  allopathy  has  its  own  sphere, 
and  that  it  ought  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  homoeopathy, 
even  as  the  excellent  Dr.  "VV.  and  Dr.  0.  came  to 
visit  me. 

My  good  doctor  has  one  trouble  with  me.  The  little 
globules  which  Mr.  Downing  gave  me,  and  which  caused 
me  to  sleep  so  well,  have  maintained  their  magic  power 
over  me,  and  cause  me  to  sleep  even  when  O.'s  me 
dicine  will  not  do  it.  Downing  will  not  tell  me  the 
name  of  this  remedy,  but  carries  on  a  merry  little  joke 
about  it,  saying  that  it  is  not  the  medicine,  but  the 
conjuration  which  he  says  over  it,  which  makes  it  so 
efficacious,  and  when  I  ask  for  the  name,  he  merely  sends 
me  some  more  globules.  My  good  doctor  smiles,  and  says, 
"  I  don't  like  this  Downing  medicine  which  excels  mine. 
I  do  not  like  it  because  it  is  not  I  who  give  it  you."  But 
I  laugh  (and  he  smiles  too)  and  I  always  have  my 
Downing  medicine  standing  every  night  on  a  table  by  my 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  233 

bed.  "With  it  I  lay  myself  down  in  confidence.  There  is 
a  good  spirit  in  the  little  vial. 

February  25th. — Where  did  I  leave  you  last,  my  child  ? 
Yes,  I  know  !  I  was  going  to  hear  Fanny  Kemble.  She 
read  the  "  Midsummer  Night's  Dream."  But  this  dream 
I  have  never  quite  understood,  nor  thought  much  of,  nor 
do  I  yet,  spite  of  Fanny  Kemble's  masterly  reading. 
The  evening  at  the  A.'s  was  pleasant  to  me.  Miss  A. 
is  a  good  and  charming  young  girl,  with  sense  and  sterling 
character,  and  really  a  musical  talent  for  the  piano. 
Besides  this,  Emerson  was  kind  and  conversable.  He  is 
much  struck  with  Fanny  Kemble's  appearance  and  talent. 
He  now  had  seen  her  for  the  first  time,  and  said,  in 
speaking  of  her,  "  What  an  abundance  there  is  in  her ! 
She  is  Miranda,  Queen  Catherine,  and  many  more  at  the 
same  time !  " 

He  likes  strongly-expressed  individuality.  And  so  do 
I.  But  Emerson  sees  human  beings  too  much  merely  as 
individuals.  He  says  of  one  person,  "  that  is  an  actress !" 
of  another,  "  that  is  a  saint !  "  of  a  third,  "  that  is  a  man 
of  business  !  "  and  so  on,  and  sets  them  away  each  one  in 
his  corner,  after  he  has  clapped  his  ticket  upon  them. 
And  so  indeed  has  every  planet  its  own  axis  on  which  it 
turns ;  but  its  greatest  importance  seems  to  me  to  consist 
in  its  relationship  to  the  sun,  that  centre  around  which 
it  revolves,  and  which  determines  its  life  and  its  course. 

I  shall  not  now  write  any  more  to  you  from  Boston, 
because  I  must  get  ready  for  my  journey,  and  I  have 
much  to  do  in  the  way  of  visits  and  letter-writing  before  I 
can  creditably  leave  the  city  and  neighbourhood.  But 
ah  !  that  will  hardly  be  possible.  I  cannot  bear  much ; 
the  least  exertion  brings  on  fever.  The  air  is  again  cold 
and  keen,  and  I  am  again  not  well — I  know  not  whether 
from  the  air  or  the  food,  or  whether  from  people  and  all 
one's  social  duties.  But  this  I  know,  that  I  shall  soon 
again  be  well.  The  climate,  and  I  myself,  here  in  this 


234  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

country,  are  alike  variable  ;  and  when  people  ask  me  one 
of  the  standing  questions  here,  "  What  similarity  is  there 
between  the  climate  of  your  country  and  that  of  ours  ?  " 
my  answer  is  equally  a  standing  one,  "  That  between  a 
staid  married  man  and  a  changeable  lover." 

Last  evening  I  spent  very  agreeably  with  Miss  Sedge- 
wick  and  her  adopted  daughter,  a  pleasing  young  wife, 
Mrs.  M.  Fanny  Kemble  was  there,  and  her  cheerful 
strongly-marked  character  is  always  refreshing ;  as  is  also 
Miss  Sedgewick's  kindness  and  fine  understanding. 

Fanny  Kemble  asked  me  across  the  room  a  question 
about  Lindblad. 

"  What  do  you  know  about  our  Lindblad  ?  "  replied  I. 

"  Do  I  not  know  Lindblad  ?  "  replied  she,  with  the  air 
and  pride  of  a  queen.  "  Do  I  not  know  this  beautiful 
singer  ?  "  And  she  mentioned  several  of  Lindblad's  ballads 
which  she  said  she  sang. 

It  delighted  me  to  hear  that  Lindblad's  songs  are  known 
and  beloved  in  England  and  America. 

I  shall  write  no  more  this  time.  I  shall  now  make  my 
curtsey  to  Boston  and  Bunker's-hill,  the  monument  on 
which  it  is  said  was  completed  by  the  work  of  women  (that 
is  to  say  its  top),  that  of  the  men  not  being  sufficient. 

And  now to  the  South  !  to  the  South ! 


LETTEE  XI. 

NEW  YORK,  March  2nd,  1850. 

WHAT  a  shabby  trick,  or  rather  how  negligent  of  fate, 
my  sweet  Agatha,  to  let  a  little  creature  fall  who  has  no 
superabundance  of  strength,  and  yet  so  much  patience  ! 
It  grieves  me  to  the  heart !  That  treacherous  ice  which 
let  you  slip  so  sadly  when  you  were  on  so  good  an  errand ! 
And  what  were  the  good  angels  about  to  permit  it  ?  I 
can  hardly  forgive  them ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  235 

Thank  God,  however,  that  you  are  now  getting  better, 
and  that  spring  is  approaching,  and  the  time  for  the 
Marstand  baths,  and  that  you  can  have  the  benefit  of 
them.  And  our  poor  Marie  stands  in  need  of  them  also. 
I  do  not  thank  Charlotte  and  all  our  friends  for  being  so 
attentive  to  you,  because  that  is  quite  natural,  but  I  like 
them  all  the  more  for  it,  and  think  better  of  them  than  of 
the  negligent  good  angels.  And,  my  little  Agatha,  if  the 
heart  and  the  will  could  have  wings,  then  I  should  be  now 
in  your  chamber,  and  by  your  bed ;  or  if,  as  I  hope,  you 
have  said  good  bye  to  bed,  by  your  side,  as  your  stick  or 
crutch,  or  your  waiting-maid :  and  that  you  know. 

Thanks  be  to  homoeopathy  and  my  good  watchful  doctor, 
I  am  now  again  in  better  health,  though  not  yet  quite 
recovered,  and  have  now  and  then  relapses ;  but  they  are 
of  short  continuance,  and  as  I  now  understand  my  com 
plaint  better,  and  how  it  ought  to  be  treated,  I  hope  to  be 
myself  again  shortly.  I  have  not  been  so  during  these 
winter  months.  My  sun  has  been  darkened,  and  at  times 
so  totally  that  I  have  feared  being  obliged  to  return  to 
Europe  with  my  errand  in  America  uncompleted ;  I  feared 
that  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to  stand  the  climate.  And 
that  has  not  a  little  astonished  me,  as  I  considered  myself 
so  strong,  or  so  elastic,  that  I  could  bear  and  get  through 
as  much  as  any  Yankee.  But  the  malady  which  I  have 
endured,  and  still  endure,  is  like  the  old  witch  who  could 
trip  up  even  Thor. 

It  is  a  disagreeable,  poisonous,  insidiously  serpent-like 
disease — a  vampire  which  approaches  man  in  the  dark, 
and  sucks  away  the  pith  and  marrow  of  body,  nerves,  and 
even  of  soul.  Half  or  two-thirds  of  the  people  in  this 
country  suffer,  or  have  suffered,  in  some  way  from  this 
malady ;  and  I  with  them.  The  fault  lies  in  the  articles 
of  food,  in  their  mode  of  life,  in  the  manner  of  warming 
their  rooms,  all  of  which  would  be  injurious  in  any 
climate,  but  which  in  one  so  hot  and  exciting  as  this  is 


236  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

downright  murder.  The  great  quantity  of  flesh  meat  and 
fat,  the  hot  bread,  the  highly-spiced  dishes,  preserves  in 
an  evening,  oysters,  made  dishes — we  could  not  bear 
these  in  Sweden  (we  indeed  will  never  roast  our  meat  with 
anything  but  good  butter ! )  and  here  they  ought  to  be 
put  in  the  Litany — that  they  ought !  and  so  ought  also 
the  "  furnaces,"  as  they  are  called,  that  is,  a  sort  of  pipe 
which  conveys  hot  air  into  a  room  through  an  opening  in 
the  floor  or  the  wall,  and  by  which  means  the  room 
becomes  warm,  or  as  it  were  boiling,  in  five  or  ten  minutes, 
but  with  a  dry,  close,  unwholesome  heat,  which  always 
gives  me  a  sensation  of  pain  as  well  as  drowsiness  in 
the  head.  The  small  iron  stoves  which  are  in  use  here 
are  not  good  either :  they  are  too  heating  and  too  extreme 
in  their  heat ;  but  yet  they  are  infinitely  better  than  these 
furnaces,  which  I  am  sure  have  some  secret  relationship 
with  the  fiery  furnace  of  hell.  They  seem  to  me  made 
on  purpose  to  destroy  the  human  nerves  and  lungs. 
Besides  these,  they  have  in  their  drawing-rooms  the 
heat  of  the  gas-lights ;  and  when  we  add  to  this  the 
keenness  and  the  changeableness  of  the  atmosphere  out 
of  doors,  it  is  easy  to  explain  why  the  women,  who  in 
particular  are,  in  this  country,  so  thoughtless  in  their 
clothing,  should  be  delicate  and  out  of  health,  and  why 
consumption  should  be  greatly  on  the  increase  in  these 
north-eastern  states.  Besides  this,  many  often  suffer 
from  dyspepsia  as  a  consequence.  I  am  in  the  meantime 
indescribably  thankful  to  have  been  rescued  from  the 
cl^ws  of  the  monster ;  for  I  consider  myself  to  have  been 
so,  as  I  understand  how  to  defend  myself  with  regard  to 
food,  and  I  take  with  me  my  physician's  globules  and 
prescriptions.  And  my  good  old  physician,  with  his 
somewhat  rugged  exterior  and  his  heart  warm  with 
human  love,  I  am  really  so  much  attached  to  him !  For 
seven  weeks  has  he  now  attended  me  with  the  greatest 
care,  coming  every  day,  sometimes  two  or  three  times  in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  237 

the  day,  when  he  thought  I  was  in  a  more  suffering  state, 
giving  me  the  most  fatherly  advice,  and  finally  furnishing 
me  with  medicines  and  rules  and  regulations,  as  regards 
diet,  for  the  whole  of  my  journey;  and  when  I  offered  to 
pay  him  for  the  trouhle  he  had  taken,  he  would  not  hear 
of  such  a  thing,  shaking  his  head,  and  saying,  in  his  deep 
serious  voice,  that  it  was  one  of  the  happiest  circumstances 
of  his  life,  that  he  could  in  any  measure  contribute  to  the 
re-establishment  of  my  health.  "  One  thing,  however,  I 
beg  of  you,"  wrote  he,  in  his  fatherly  farewell  letter,  "  and 
that  is  that  you  will  sometimes  write  to  me,  and  tell  me 
about  your  health,  and  what  you  are  doing  and  enjoying ; 
because  I  hear  a  great  deal  about  human  suffering  and 
sorrow,  but  very  seldom  about  human  happiness." 

Yes,  my  sweet  Agatha,  I  cannot  tell  whether  I  rightly 
know  the  American  character,  but  of  this  I  am  certain, 
that  what  I  do  know  of  it  is  more  beautiful  and  more 
worthy  to  be  loved  than  any  other  that  I  am  acquainted 
with  in  the  world.  Their  hospitality  and  warm-hearted 
ness,  wrhen  their  hearts  are  once  warmed,  are  really  over 
flowing,  and  know  no  bounds.  And  as  some  travellers 
see  and  make  a  noise  about  their  failings,  it  is  very  well 
that  there  should  be  somebody  who,  before  anything  else, 
becomes  acquainted  with  their  virtues.  And  these  failings 
of  theirs,  as  far  as  I  can  yet  see  their  national  failings, 
may  all  be  attributed  principally  to  the  youthful  life  of 
the  people.  In  many  cases  I  recognise  precisely  the 
faults  of  my  own  youth, — the  asking  questions,  want 
of  reflection,  want  of  observation  of  themselves  and 
others,  a  boastful  spirit,  and  so  on.  And  how  free  from 
these  failings,  and  how  critically  alive  to  them  are  the 
best  people  in  this  country  !  America's  best  judges  and 
censors  of  manners  are  Americans  themselves. 

March  5th. — You  thank  me  for  my  letters,  my  sweet 
Agatha ;  but  to  me  they  seem  so  wretched  and  so 
few.  I  meant  to  have  written  you  better  letters;  but 


238  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

partly  I  have  been  so  indisposed,  and  so  depressed  in 
mind,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  write  ;  and  in  part  the 
daily  desire  to  see  people  and  things,  the  receiving  of 
visits  and  letters,  and  such  like,  have  so  wholly  occupied 
me  that  my  letters  home  have  suffered  in  consequence. 
This  also  can  be  merely  the  slightest  summa  summarum 
of  the  last  'fortnight's  occurrences,  for  they  have  come 
on  like  a  torrent,  and  I  can  scarcely  remember  their 
detail. 

I  was  present  at  two  other  Conversations  of  Alcott's 
before  I  left  Boston.  They  attracted  me  by  Emerson's 
presence,  and  the  part  he  took  in  them.  Many  interesting 
persons  and  persons  of  talent  were  present,  and  the 
benches  were  crowded.  The  conversation  was  to  bear 
upon  the  principal  tendencies  of  the  age. 

First  one,  then  another  clever  speaker  rose,  but  it 
was  most  difficult  to  centralise.  The  subjects  had  a 
strong  inclination  to  go  about  through  space  like  wan 
dering  stars,  without  sun  or  gravitation.  But  the  presence 
of  Emerson  never  fails  to  produce  a  more  profound 
and  more  earnest  state  of  feeling,  and  by  degrees  the 
conversation  arranged  itself  into  something  like  obser 
vation  and  reply ;  in  particular,  through  Emerson's  good 
sense  in  calling  upon  certain  persons  to  express  their 
sentiments  on  certain  questions.  A  somewhat  unpolished 
person  in  the  crowd  suddenly  called  upon  Emerson,  with 
a  rude  voice,  to  stand  forth  and  give  a  reason  for  what  he 
meant  by  "  the  moral  right  of  victory  on  earth,  and  justice 
of  Providence,  and  many  more  absurd  phrases  which  he 
makes  use  of  in  his  writings,  and  which  were  totally 
opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  testimony  of 
the  martyrs,  and  which  would  make  all  martyrs  to  be  fools 
or  cheats  ?  "  The  tone  in  which  this  inquiry  was  made 
was  harsh,  and  in  the  spirit  of  an  accusation.  The  whole 
assembly  directed  their  eyes  to  Emerson.  I  could  per 
ceive  that  he  breathed  somewhat  quicker,  but  when,  after 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  239 

a  few  moments'  reflection,  lie  replied,  his  manner  was  as 
calm,  and  his  voice,  if  possible,  more  gentle  and  melodious 
than  common,  forming  a  strong  contrast  to  that  of  the 
questioner.  "  Assuredly,"  replied  he,  "  I  consider  that 
every  one  who  combats  and  suffers  for  any  truth  and 
right,  will  in  the  end  obtain  the  victory;  if  not  in  his 
first  appearance,  then  certainly  in  his  second." 

The  inquirer  was  silenced  by  this  reply,  but  looked 
angry  and  irresolute. 

By  degrees,  however,  the  conversation,  through  the 
influence  of  Emerson,  divided  itself,  as  it  were,  into  two 
streams,  and  which  in  fact  might  be  called  the  two 
principal  tendencies  of  the  age ;  the  one  was  Socialism, 
which  seeks  to  perfect  man  and  human  nature  by  means 
of  social  institutions,  and  which  seemed  to  have  many 
adherents  in  the  assembly  :  the  second,  under  the  guidance 
of  Emerson,  who  would  perfect  society  by  means  of 
each  separate  human  being  perfecting  himself.  The 
former  begin  with  societ}r,  the  latter  with  the  indi 
vidual.  One  of  the  company,  who  was  called  upon  by 
Emerson  to  express  his  opinion,  said  "that  he  held 
the  same  views  as  Emerson,  inasmuch  as  man  must 
first  begin  the  work  of  perfection  in  himself.  He  must 
adorn  himself  as  a  bride  to  make  himself  fit  for  a  union 
with  the  divine  spirit.  It  was  by  means  of  this  union 
that  the  most  perfected  humanity  would  be  attained  to  !  " 
To  these  remarks  Emerson  replied  by  a  beautiful,  grateful 
smile.  "  You  see  that  I,"  continued  the  speaker,  "  like 
my  great  countrymen,  Swedenborg  and  Linnaeus,  lay 
great  stress  upon  marriage"  (you  may  guess  certainly 
who  the  speaker  is  now). 

"  You  then  regard  marriage  as  of  the  highest  importance 
in  life  ?  "  said  Alcott,  very  much  pleased. 

"Yes,  the  spiritual  marriage ;  it  is  the  only  one  which 
is  necessary." 

With  this  reply  Alcott  seemed  less  pleased.     For  the 


240  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

rest  Alcott  would  do  without  us,  and  without  children 
altogether,  except  a  few  select  ones,  an  elite  corps,  of  which 
he  would  himself  he  the  teacher,  and  who  would  he  the 
new-horn  generation. 

When  the  conversation  had  pretty  fully  developed  the 
wisdom  and  the  folly  of  the  assembly,  Theodore  Parker 
took  up  the  word,  and  gave  an  excellent,  hut  covertly 
sarcastic  statement  of  that  which  had  been  said  during  the 
evening,  in  particular  of  Alcott's  philanthropic  views  with 
regard  to  the  present  human  generation.  When  he  had 
ended,  an  involuntary  smile  played  upon  all  countenances, 
upon  Emerson's  as  well  as  the  rest ;  but  however,  turning 
his  eagle -like  head — eagle -like  in  expression  if  not  in 
features — towards  the  speaker,  he  said,  "  that  is  quite  right, 
and  would  be  still  more  so  if  we  came  here  to  examine 
a  speech  from  the  chair,  and  not  a  free,  unreserved  con 
versation.  But  here  might  avail  a  maxim  which  I  saw 
applied  by  one  of  my  friends  in  England,  who  used  to 
assemble  his  friends  for  the  discussion  of  interesting  topics. 
He  had  inscribed  above  the  door  of  the  room  used  for 
their  discussions  some  words — which  I  am  sorry  I  do 
not  accurately  remember — but  the  substance  of  which  was, 
that  every  body  was  welcome  to  say  what  he  thought  right, 
but  that  it  was  forbidden  to  any  one  to  make  remarks  on 
that  which  was  said. 

On  this,  a  new  smile  was  on  every  face,  and  evidently 
at  Parker's  expense.  Parker  seemed  a  little  hurt,  red 
dened,  but  said — after  a  moment's  pause — "that  he 
thought  it  was  better  to  make  some  remarks  on  that  which 
had  been  said,  than  to  come  together  and  talk,  without 
knowing  distinctly  what  they  were  talking  about." 

And  now  again  all  laughed,  and  Emerson  also  with 
Parker,  and  the  assembly  broke  up  cheerfully ;  and  I  drove 
home  more  amused  and  edified  than  I  expected  ever  to 
have  been  at  one  of  Alcott's  "  Conversations." 

I  was  present  again  at  two  more  of  Fanny  Kemble's 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  241 

Readings,  and  was  greatly  delighted.  My  acquaintance 
with  her  has  also  afforded  me  great  pleasure  and  interest. 
She  is  full  of  genius,  and  is,  in  every  respect,  a  richly- 
gifted  woman,  with  a  warm  heart  and  noble  mind,  and 
with  life  and  with  "  spirit "  enough  to  ride  a  horse  to  death 
every  day,  and  to  master  every  man  or  woman  who  might 
attempt  to  master  her.  Proud  one  moment,  as  the 
proudest  queen,  she  can  yet,  towards  an  unpretending 
being,  be  the  next  as  humble  and  as  amiable  as  an  amiable 
young  girl.  Loving  splendour,  and  expensive  in  her  way 
of  life  and  her  habits,  she  can  yet  be  simple  as  a  simple 
countryman  or  a  peasant-maiden ;  thus,  she  often,  in  the 
country,  dressed  in  man's  attire,  goes  ranging  about 
through  wood  and  field,  and  on  one  occasion  she  herself 
drove  a  cow  home  to  Miss  Sedgewick,  who  had  lost  hers, 
and  who  now  received  this  as  a  present  from  her  "  sublime  " 
Fanny.  (N.B. — She  lives  in  Miss  Sedgewick's  neighbour 
hood  and  the  two  are  very  fond  of  each  other.)  She  utters 
the  noblest  thoughts,  yet  she  is  deficient  in  the  more  refined 
womanliness,  and  seems  to  me  not  to  understand  the  true 
dignity  of  her  own  sex.  But  she  understands  Shakspeare, 
and  reads  incomparably.  Her  Henry  V.,  Brutus,  Cleopatra 
(in  the  death  scene),  I  shall  never  forget. 

Maria  Lowell  accompanied  me  to  the  forenoon  readings 
last  Saturday.  She  read  Shakspeare's  enchanting  "  As 
you  like  it,"  and  she  read  it  enchantingly  well.  After 
the  reading  I  invited  her  to  take  luncheon  with  me, 
together  with  the  young  Lowells. 

She  came  brimful  of  life,  warm  from  the  reading,  and 
warm  from  the  increased  warmth  of  her  hearers ;  her  eye 
seemed  to  comprehend  the  whole  world,  and  the  dilated 
nostrils  seemed  to  inhale  all  the  affluent  life  of  the  world. 
By  chance,  it  so  happened,  that  Laura  Bridgeman  with 
her  attendant,  had  come  to  call  on  me  at  the  same  time, 
and  was  seated  in  my  room  as  Fanny  Kemble  entered. 
Fanny  Kemble  had  never  before  sejen  the  blind,  deaf  and 

VOL.  I.  R 


242  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dumb  Laura,  and  she  was  so  struck  by  the  sight  of  this 
poor,  imprisoned  being,  that  she  sate  certainty  above  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  lost  in  the  contemplation  of  her,  whilst 
large  tears  streamed  unceasingly  down  her  cheeks.  Laura 
was  not  quite  well,  and  she  was  therefore  more  than 
usually  pale  and  quiet.  One  can  hardly  imagine  a 
greater  contrast  than  these  two  beings,  these  two  lives. 
Fanny  Kemble  with  all  her  senses  awake  to  life,  powerful 
enough  to  take  possession  of  life  in  all  its  manifold  phases 
and  its  fulness ;  Laura  Bridgeman  shut  out  from  life,  her 
noblest  senses  closed,  dead,  without  light,  without  hearing, 

without  the  power  of  speech ! ! and  yet,  perhaps,  Laura 

was  now  the  happier  of  the  two,  at  least  in  her  own  sense 
of  existence.  She  even  made  intelligible  her  lively  sense 
of  happiness,  in  reply  to  the  question  which  was  put  to  her. 
Fanny  Kemble  wept,  wept  bitterly.  Was  it  for  Laura, 
for  herself,  or  merely  from  the  contrast  between  them  ? 

I  went  up  to  her  several  times  to  offer  her  some 
refreshment,  but  she  merely  answered  "  By  and  by,"  and 
continued  to  gaze  at  Laura,  and  tears  continued  to  fall. 

In  awhile  she  became  composed,  and  we  had  an  hour's 
cheerful  and  amusing  conversation  with  the  Lowells. 
After  which  I  took  a  little  sketch  of  Laura. 

Fanny  Kemble,  as  you  know,  has  been  married  to  a 
wealthy  American  and  slave-holder,  Mr.  Butler,  and  is 
now  separated  from  him.  This  marriage  and  its  conse 
quences  seem  to  have  embittered  her  life,  especially  the 
separation  of  herself  and  her  two  children.  I  have  heard 
her  lament  over  this  in  the  most  heart-rending  manner, 
and  I  cannot  conceive  how  the  social  spirit  of  America, 
in  general  so  favourable  to  woman  and  to  mothers,  can 
permit  so  great  an  injustice  when  the  fault  which  occa 
sions  the  marriage  separation  is  on  the  man's  side.  To 
separate  a  mother  from  her  children !  That  ought  never 
to  take  place  if  she  does  not  openly  forfeit  her  right  to 
them !  In  this  tragedy  of  marriage  the  two  principal 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  243 

persons  have  each  their  friends  and  adherents,  but  the 
general  voice  seems  to  be  in  her  favour.  I  can  very  well 
believe  that  Fanny  Kemble  would  not  be  the  most  excel 
lent  nor  the  most  tractable  of  wives.  But  why  then  did 
he  so  resolutely  endeavour  to  win  her  ?  He  knew  before 
hand  her  temper  and  her  anti- slavery  sympathies,  for  she 
is  too  truthful  to  have  concealed  anything.  Extraordinary 
in  the  meantime  is  that  sort  of  magnetic  power  which 
this  woman,  so  unfeminine  in  many  respects,  exercises 
upon  a  great  number  of  men.  For  my  part — to  use  the 
words  of  one  of  her  friends — I  am  glad  that  there  is  one 
Fanny  Kemble  in  the  world,  but  I  do  not  wish  that 
there  should  be  two. 

The  last  evening  party  at  which  I  was  present  at  Boston 
was  at  the  Mayor's,  Mr.  Q.,  who  belongs  to  one  of  the 
oldest  families  in  Massachusetts.  The  last  few  days 
before  my  departure  were  full  of  occupation,  and  the 
last  of  all,  on  which  I  had  to  pack,  to  write  many  letters, 
to  make  calls  and  to  receive  visits  at  the  latest  moment, 
threw  me  again  into  my  wretched  and  feverish  state.  But 
when  it  was  over,  that  last  day  of  my  stay  in  Boston, 
with  its  various  scenes,  its  fatigues,  and  its  queerness,  and 
with  it  a  section — and  one  heavy  enough — of  my  life  in 
the  New  World,  and  when  late  in  the  evening  young  V. 
read  to  me  some  chapters  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  then 
was  it  good,  then  was  it  beautiful  and  pleasant.  And  if 
even  at  that  time  the  fountain  of  tears  was  unsealed,  it 
was  from  a  deep  sense  of  gratitude.  For  was  not  that 
season  of  sickness  and  depression  over ;  and  had  I  not 
through  it  learned  to  know  and  to  love  one  of  the  best 
and  the  noblest  of  men,  my  good  physician  and  friend, 
Dr.  O. ;  and  had  become  acquainted  with  a  glorious 
remedy  both  for  you  and  for  myself?  And  I  now  also 
understood  the  sufferings  of  nervous  patients.  I  had  never 
had  experience  of  such  myself,  and  had  been  inclined  to 
be  impatient  towards  them.  I  shall  now  do  better. 

B2 


244  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Young  V.  is  a  complete  Englishman  in  appearance, 
character,  and  prejudices,  and  in  a  certain  solidity  of  man 
ner  and  demeanour,  which  is  not  American.  But  with  all 
this  he  is  very  agreeable  and  polite,  and  I  have  to  thank 
him  for  many  friendly  attentions,  most  of  all  for  his 
evening  readings.  These  were  the  delicious  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  of  Peace  after  the  restless  hours  and  the 
fatigues  of  the  day. 

I  left  Boston  on  the  last  of  February  at  eight  in  the 
morning.  I  was  accompanied  to  the  railway  station  by 
Mr.  K.  and  young  V.,  and  at  the  station,  who  should  I 
see  but  my  good  doctor,  who  had  come  thither  to  bid  me 
farewell,  and  the  amiable  Professor  H.  who  presented  me 
with  a  large  and  beautiful  bouquet.  With  this  in  my 
hand  away  I  sped  in  the  comfortable  railway  carriage,  on 
the  wings  of  steam,  in  splendid  sunshine  on  that  bright 
cold  morning,  cheerful  both  in  soul  and  body,  and  with  a 
certain  peace  of  conscience  at  having  so  far  fulfilled  my 
social  duties  in  Boston.  I,  however,  it  is  true,  glanced 
with  envy  at  a  hen  which,  at  one  of  the  cottages  which  wre 
passed,  lay  in  the  dust,  basking  in  the  sunshine,  and  I 
thought  it  was  much  better  to  be  a  hen  than  a  Hon. 

I  was  invited  at  Springfield  to  dine  at  the  Union  Hotel, 
and  there  to  receive  visits  from  various  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  as  well  as  to  write  autographs.  And  then 
forward  on  my  frying  career.  The  sky  had  in  the  mean 
time  become  cloudy ;  it  grew  darker  and  darker,  and  I 
arrived  at  New  York  in  a  regular  tempest  of  wind  and 
snow.  At  the  station  however  I  was  met  by  a  servant 
and  carriage  sent  for  me  by  Marcus  S.  And  half 
an  hour  afterwards  I  was  at  Rose  Cottage,  Brooklyn, 
drinking  tea  with  my  excellent  friends,  who  received  me 
in  the  kindest  manner,  and  with  whom  I  sate  up  talking 
till  late. 

And' I  am  now  with  them,  and  able  to  hide  myself  from 
the  world  for  a  few  days.  This  is  enchanting ;  I  hope 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  245 

here  perfectly  to  regain  my  strength  before  I  betake 
myself  to  the  South.  Here  I  have  the  peace  of  freedom 
which  I  desire,  and  my  friends'  mode  of  living  is  alto 
gether  simple  and  healthful ;  and  they  themselves,  and  the 
children,  and  Bose  Cottage,  with  its  peaceful  spirit— 
yes,  with  many  such  homes,  the  New  "World  would  be 
also  the  Better  World  ! 

It  is,  however,  very  cold  still,  and  I  long  for  the  South, 
and  for  a  milder  air.  I  am  not  very  fond  of  the  climate 
of  Massachusetts.  Yet  I  have  to  thank  Massachusetts 
for  some  glorious  spring- days  during  the  winter,  for  its 
beautiful,  deep  blue,  beaming  sky,  for  its  magnificent 
elms,  in  the  long  sweeping  branches  of  which  the  oriole 
builds  in  full  security  its  little  nest  which  sways  in  the 
wind ;  I  thank  it  for  its  rural  homes,  where  the  fear  of 
God,  and  industry,  family  affections,  and  purity  of  life, 
have  their  home.  Its  educational  system  has  my  esteem, 
and  many  excellent  people  have  my  love.  To  the  good 
city  of  Boston  I  give  my  blessing,  and  am  glad  to  be 
leaving  it — for  the  present,  but  hope  to  return,  because  I 
must  again  see  my  friends  there,  when  the  elm-trees  are 
in  leaf;  above  all  my  good  doctor  and  the  young  Lowells. 
And  we  have  agreed  to  meet  next  summer.  We  shall 
together  visit  Niagara,  which  Maria  Lowell  as  yet  has 
never  seen.  When  she  was  last  with  me  in  Boston  I  saw 
upon  the  floor  of  my  bed-room  a  flower  which  had  fallen 
from  her  bonnet,  a  white  rose  with  two  little  pale  pink 
buds,  and  which  had  touched  her  light  curls, — they  lay 
upon  the  carpet  like  a  remembrance  of  her,  and  I  picked 
them  up,  and  shall  keep  them  always  as  a  remembrance 
of  that  lovely  young  woman.  I  thank  the  land  of  the 
Pilgrims  above  all  for  its  ideal,  for  its  conception  of  a 
higher  law  in  society,  a  law  of  God,  which  ought  to  be 
obeyed  rather  than  human  law ;  for  its  conception  of  a 
standard  of  morality  higher  than  that  which  is  current  in 
the  world,  and  which  demands  the  highest  purity  of  life 


246  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  man  as  in  woman,  and  which  admits  of  no  lax  con 
cession;  for  its  noble  feeling  as  regards  the  rights  of 
woman  and  her  development  as  fellow  citizen ;  for  its 
sense  of  the  honour  of  labour,  and  its  demanding  for 
every  good  labourer  honourable  wages  as  such.  I  thank 
it  for  its  magnanimous  wish  and  endeavour  to  give  every 
thing  to  all;  for  those  little  settlements  in  which  the 
children  of  the  New  World  endeavour  to  bring  into 
operation  the  divine  teaching.  People  say  that  such 
ideas  are  impractical.  It  is  by  such  impractical  ideas  that 
society  approaches  nearer  to  heaven,  nearer  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  the  very  things  which  are  insecure 
root  themselves  firmly  in  those  which  are  secure. 

Sunday. — I  am  just  returned  from  a  Presbyterian 
church,  where  I  have  heard  a  young  preacher  from  the 
West  preach  "  on  the  positive  in  Christianity,"  one  of  the 
best  extempore  Christian  discourses  which  I  ever  heard 
in  any  country.  The  preacher,  Henry  Beecher,  is  full 
of  life  and  energy,  and  preaches  from  that  experience 
of  Christian  life  which  gives  a  riveting  effect  to  his 
words ;  besides  which  he  appears  to  me  to  be  singularly 
free  from  sectarian  spirit,  and  attaches  himself  with 
decision  and  clearness  to  the  common  light  and  life  of 
every  Christian  church.  He  has  also  considerable  wit, 
and  does  not  object  to  enliven  his  discourse  with 
humourous  sallies,  so  that  more  than  once  the  whole 
audience  of  the  crowded  church  burst  into  a  general 
laugh,  which  however  did  not  prevent  them  from  soon 
shedding  joyful  tears  of  devotion.  That  was  the  case  at 
the  prayer  of  the  young  preacher  over  the  bread  and  wine 
at  the  administration  of  the  sacrament,  and  tears  also 
streamed  down  his  own  cheeks  as  he  bowed  in  silent,  rapt 
contemplation  of  the  splendid  mystery  of  the  sacrament, 
of  that  humanity  which  through  the  life  of  Christ  is  now 
born  and  transfigured.  When  we  stand  at  the  communion 
table  with  our  nearest  kindred  or  our  family,  we  ought  to 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  247 

have  this  thought  livingly  present  to  our  minds,  that  we 
should  behold  them  as  transformed  by  the  spirit  of  Christ ; 
we  should  think,  how  beautiful  will  my  husband,  my 
friend,  my  brother,  become,  when  this  his  failing,  or  that 
his  short-coming  is  done  away  with,  when  he  stands  forth 
transfigured  through  the  divine  life  !  Oh  how  patient, 
how  gentle,  how  affectionate,  how  hopeful,  are  we  not 
capable  of  becoming !  Such  was  the  substance  of  the 
young  minister's  discourse,  but  how  earnestly  and  con 
vincingly  he  spoke  is  not  for  me  to  describe.  I  also  partook 
of  the  sacrament,  to  which  he  invited  all  Christians 
present,  of  whatever  name  or  sect  they  might  be,  as  well 
as  strangers  from  other  lands.  The  bread  (small  square 
pieces  of  bread  upon  a  plate)  and  the  wine,  were  carried 
to  the  benches  and  passed  on  from  hand  to  hand,  which 
took  considerably  from  the  solemnity  of  the  ceremony. 
How  beautiful  is  our  procession  to  the  altar,  and  after 
that  the  hallelujah  song  of  the  assembly ! 

The  ritual  of  our  Swedish  church,  as  expressive  of  the 
religious  feeling  of  the  assembly,  seems  to  me  also  to  be 
better  and  more  perfect  than  that  of  any  other  church 
with  which  I  am  acquainted,  yet  nevertheless  even  that 
might  be  better  still.  But  the  sermons  and  the  hymns 
are  better  in  this  country ;  the  former  have  considerably 
more  reality,  and  are  more  applicable  to  actual  life ;  and 
the  latter  have  more  life  and  beauty  also,  and  would  have 
still  more  if  they  were  really  sung  by  the  congregation. 
This  however  I  have  to  object  against  the  hymns  of  the 
United  States,  that  they  are  sung  by  a  trained  choir  in 
the  gallery,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  congregation  sit  silently 
and  listen  just  as  they  would  sit  in  a  concert-room.  Some 
accompany  them,  reading  from  their  hymn-books,  but 
others  never  open  theirs.  When  I  have  occasionally 
lifted  up  my  voice  with  the  singers  I  have  seen  my 
neighbours  look  at  me  with  some  surprise.  And  then 
the  hymns  and  psalms  here  are  so  full  of  rhythm,  have 


248  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

such  vitalising  tunes,  and  such  vitalising,  beautiful  words, 
that  I  feel  as  if  people  ought  to  sing  them  with  heart  and 
soul.  Our  long,  heavy  Swedish  psalms,  full  of  self- 
observation  and  repetition,*  are  not  met  with  here ;  neither 
have  I  here  met  with  those  monotonous  feeble,  poor  tunes, 
which  destroy  all  life  in  the  soul,  and  which  made  me 
every  time  a  hymn  was  begun,  glance  with  a  certain  fear  at 
its  length ;  for  if  it  were  very  long,  I  never  reached  the 
end  of  it  without  being  weary  and  sleepy,  though  I  might 
have  begun  with  fervency  of  feeling.  And  was  it  different 
with  others  ?  I  have  often  looked  around  me  during  the 
singing  in  Swedish  churches,  and  have  seen  many  a  dull, 
sleepy  eye ;  many  a  half-opened  mouth  which  did  not  utter 
a  word,  and  had  forgotten  to  close  itself, — in  short,  a  sort  of 
idiotic  expression  which  told  me  that  the  soul  was  away, 
and  whilst  I  thus  looked  at  others,  I  found  it  was  the 
same  with  myself.  The  prayers  it  seems  to  me  are  better 
with  us  than  with  the  congregations  here ;  but  still  they 
might  be  improved  even  with  us.  In  the  episcopal 
churches  of  this  country  the  prayers  are  according  to 
the  printed  form  in  the  book,  and  it  frequently  happens 
that  the  soul  has  no  part  in  these.  It  is  a  mere  prating 
with  the  lips.  In  the  Unitarian  churches  the  preacher 
prays  for  the  congregation  and  in  its  name,  prays  an 
infinitely  long  prayer,  which  has  the  inconvenience  of  saying 
altogether  too  much,  of  using  too  many  words,  and  yet  of 
not  saying  that  which  any  single  individual  ought  to  say. 
How  often  have  I  thought  during  these  long  prayers,  how 
much  more  perfect  it  would  be  if  the  minister  merely 
said,  "  Lord  help  us ! "  or  "  Lord  let  thy  countenance 
shine  upon  us ! "  Better  than  all  would  it  be  as  Jean 
Paul  proposed,  that  the  minister  should  merely  say,  "  Let 
us  pray  !  "  And  then  that  some  beautiful  soul-touching 

*  I  am  not  speaking  here  of  those  glorious  Swedish  psalms,  which  are 
capable  of  a  comparison  with  the  most  beautiful  hymns  of  any  Christian 
people. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOELD.  249 

music  should  play,  during  which  all  should  pray  in  silence 
according  to  the  wants  and  the  inspirations  of  their  souls. 
Of  a  truth  then  would  prayers  ascend  more  pure  and 
fervent  than  any  prescribed  by  human  tongues  and  forms. 
A  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  a  vital  expression 
of  the  life  and  truth  of  Christianity — should  we  then  have 
on  earth. 

But  1  must  yet  say  a  few  words  about  that  young 
disciple  of  Calvin,  Henry  Beecher,  but  who  has  left  far 
behind  him  whatever  is  hard  and  petrified  in  the 
orthodoxy  of  Calvin,  and  breaking  away  from  that  has 
attached  himself  to  the  true  Christian  doctrine  of  mercy 
to  all.  He  was  with  us  last  evening,  and  told  us  how 
as  a  missionary  he  had  preached  in  the  West  beneath  the 
open  sky  to  the  people  of  the  wilderness,  and  how  during 
his  solitary  journeys  amid  those  grand  primeval  scenes, 
and  during  his  daily  experience  of  that  most  vitalising 
influence  of  Christianity  upon  the  fresh  human  soul,  he 
had  by  degrees  introduced  order  into  his  own  inward 
world,  had  solved  hitherto  difficult  religious  questions,  and 
had  come  forth  from  the  old  dead  church  into  one  more 
comprehensive,  and  more  full  of  light.  He  described 
also,  in  the  most  picturesque  manner,  the  nocturnal  camp- 
meeting  of  the  West ;  the  scenes  of  baptism  there  on  the 
banks  of  rivers  and  streams,  as  well  in  their  poetical  as 
in  their  frequently  comic  aspects.  There  is  somewhat  of 
the  power  of  growth  peculiar  to  the  great  Western  wilds 
in  this  young  man,  but  somewhat  of  its  rudeness  also. 
He  is  a  bold,  ardent  young  champion  of  that  young 
America,  too  richly  endowed  and  too  much  acknowledged 
as  such,  for  them  not  to  be  quite  conscious  of  their  own 
I.  And  even  in  his  sermon  this  I  was  somewhat  too 
prominent.  But  only  more  and  more  do  I  feel  how  great 
an  interest  I  shall  take  in  visiting  that  great  West  where 
"  growth  "  seems  to  be  the  only  available  watchword;  where, 
in  the  immeasurable  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  between 


250  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  Alleghanies  and  the  Eocky  Mountains,  it  is  said  there 
is  room  for  a  larger  population  than  that  of  the  whole  of 
Europe ;  and  where  a  great  and  new  people  are  developing 
themselves,  through  a  union  of  all  races  of  people,  in  the 
lap  of  a  grand  and  powerful  natural  scenery,  which  like  a 
strong  mother  will  train  them  up  into  a  more  vigorous 
and  higher  human  life.  Many  a  thinking  man  here  in 
the  Eastern  States  has  said  to  me,  "  You  will  not  see 
what  the  American  people  are  becoming,  not  see  the 
Young  American,  until  you  reach  the  West." 

I  had  intended  to  set  off  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia 
in  company  with  Mrs.  Kirkland,  according  to  her  proposal, 
and  thence  go  forward  with  Anne  Lynch  to  Washington, 
to  attend  some  of  the  sittings  of  Congress,  and  to  see  its 
lions ;  but  I  am  so  afraid  of  all  the  fatigue  and  excitement 
which  mixing  in  society  involves,  and  I  am  so  anxious  to 
go  to  the  South,  because  this  season  of  the  year  is  best  for 
that  purpose,  as  in  May  the  heat  is  already  too  great  in 
the  Southern  States,  that,  after  consultation  with  my 
friends,  I  have  determined  to  go  on  Saturday  by  steamer 
to  Charleston  in  South  Carolina.  Within  seventy-two 
hours  I  shall  be  there,  and  probably  in  full  summer, 
whilst  here  the  ground  is  covered  with  snow. 

From  Charleston  I  shall  travel  to  the  different  places 
to  which  I  am  invited,  and  spend  in  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
that  paradise  of  North  America,  the  months  of  March 
and  April.  In  May,  I  shall  go  to  Washington,  and 
after  a  stay  of  a  fortnight  there,  return  here,  and  so 
go  westward  to  Cincinnati  (Ohio),  on  to  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin,  where  I  shall  visit  my  countrymen,  the  Swedes 
and  Norwegians,  and  see  how  they  are  getting  on.  From 
this  point  I  shall  travel  by  the  great  inland  lakes  to 
Niagara,  where,  about  the  end  of  June,  I  have  agreed  to 
meet  the  Downings  and  the  Lowells. 

Thus,  my  sweet  Agatha,  you  see  my  tour  made  out ; 
and  I  am  certain  to  have  the  eye  of  a  good  spirit  from  my 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW, -WORLD.  251 

Swedish  home  upon  me  during  My  journey.  It  may  so 
happen  that  after  this  I  may  not^'b^  ahle  to  write  to  you 
as  often  as  heretofore ;  but  once  M&bnth,  at  least,  you 
shall  have  a  letter,  and  I  will  trj**fl  write  better  letters 
than  I  have  yet  done.  Ah !  if  I  could  only  continue  to 
be  as  well  as  I  am  now  beginning  to  feel,  then  I  should 
live  and  think  and  write  so  much  !  I  sometimes  also  feel 
as  if  a  book  on  America  would  come  forth  from  me ;  but 
then  it  would  be  very  different  to  any  other  of  my  works. 

The  sun  and  the  light  now  come  in  upon  me  in  my 
charming  room  at  Kose  Cottage.  If  they  would  but  only 
shine  now  in  upon  you,  my  sweet  child,  and  speak  of  spring 
and  warm  breezes,  and  the  sea-baths  and  good  health  ! 

March  loth. — I  could  not  accomplish  my  journey  as  I 
had  arranged.  The  vessel  by  which  I  thought  of  sailing 
has  been  sold  to  the  Calif ornian  trade,  and  the  next 
steamer  which  goes  to  Charleston  will  not  leave  till 
Saturday  fortnight,  and  I  had  neither  time  nor  inclination 
to  defer  my  going  south  so  long.  I  have  therefore 
determined  to  go  by  a  sailing  vessel,  and  Marcus  S.  has 
arranged  for  me  to  go  by  a  good  and  safe  packet.  If  the 
wind  is  favourable  I  shall  be  there  in  from  four  to  five 
days ;  and  I  fancy  that  the  voyage  will  be  amusing.  If 
the  wind  is  contrary  and  the  weather  stormy,  it  will  still 
be  well.  I  do  not  object  to  be  tossed  a  little  by  wind 
and  wave. 

I  have  packed  my  things  to-day  and  got  ready  for  the 
journey,  and  although  there  is  a  tempest  of  wind  and 
snow,  yet  I  feel  cheerful  and  impatient  to  be  off.  The 
spirit  of  the  Vikings  is  again  awake  within  me,  and — 

"  Pleasant  to  me  is  the  song  of  the  billows 
Which  heave  on  the  tempested  sea ! " 

I  shall  be  better  off  amid  them  than  in  the  gas-lighted 
drawing-rooms  of  Boston  and  New  York. 

I  have  now  spent  a  week  with  Mrs.  Kirkland  in  New 


252  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

York.  She  is  not  the  gay  and  vivacious  being  which  hef 
book,  "  A  New  Home  in  the  West,"  led  us  to  imagine. 
Hers  is  a  character  of  greater  depth.  That  playful  spirit, 
with  its  feeling  for  the  comic  in  life,  has  been  depressed 
by  sorrow  and  misfortune,  but  it  flashes  forth  sometimes 
and  then  reveals  the  depth  of  the  soul's  earnestness.  She 
is  an  ardent  and  strong  woman,  and  a  true  fellow-citizen, 
and  has  sustained  herself  amid  great  trials  by  religion, 
and  by  the  necessity  to  work  for  her  four  children,  two 
sons  and  two  daughters ;  the  youngest  son,  Willie,  and 
the  youngest  daughter,  Cordelia,  are  especially  my 
favourites.  Friendship  with  the  noble  and  distinguished 
preacher,  Mr.  Bellows,  as  well  as  her  literary  occupation, 
make  her  life  anything  but  poor.  She  is  one  of  those 
natures  in  which  the  feminine  and  the  manly  attributes 
are  harmoniously  blended,  and  which  therefore  is  well 
balanced,  and  is  capable  of  taking  the  lead  of  those 
around  her. 

I  saw  at  her  house  a  Miss  Haynes,  who  has  been  a 
missionary  in  China,  and  who,  still  young  and  handsome, 
conducts  a  large  girls'  boarding-school  in  New  York.  She 
interested  me  by  her  individuality,  and  by  the  interesting 
stories  which  she  related  of  Miss  Dorothea  Dix  (the 
Mrs.  Fry  of  the  New  World),  and  her  uncommon  force  of 
character  and  activity.  I  hope  yet  to  meet  this  angel  of 
prisons  and  hospitals,  and  to  kiss  her  hand  for  that  which 
she  is,  and  that  which  she  does. 

At  Mrs.  Kirkland's  I  also  saw  the  young  traveller, 
Bayard  Taylor,  who  had  just  returned  from  California, 
and  I  was  glad  to  hear  his  stories  from  the  land  of  gold ; 
in  particular  of  the  character  of  its  scenery,  its  climate, 
vegetable  productions,  and  animals.  Apropos  of  him.  I 
must  beg  leave  to  tell  you  a  little  about  what  I  think  a 
Yankee  is,  or  what  he  seems  to  me  to  be  ;  and  by  Yankee 
is  properly  understood,  one  of  the  boys  of  New  England ; 
the  type  of  the  "  go  a-head  America,"— of  Young  America. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  253 

He  is  a  young  man — it  is  all  the  same  if  lie  is  old — who 
makes  his  own  wray  in  the  world  in  full  reliance  on  his 
own  power,  stops  at  nothing,  turns  his  back  on  nothing, 
finds  nothing  impossible,  goes  through  everything,  and 
comes  out  of  everything — always  the  same.  If  he  falls, 
he  immediately  gets  up  again,  and  says  "  no  matter !  "  If 
he  is  unsuccessful,  he  says  "  try  again  !  "  "  go  a-head ;  " — 
and  he  begins  again,  or  undertakes  something  else,  and 
never  stops  till  it  succeeds.  Nay  he  does  not  stop  then. 
His  work  and  will  is  to  be  always  working,  building, 
beginning  afresh,  or  beginning  something  new;  always 
developing,  extending  himself  or  his  country ;  and  some 
body  has  said,  with  truth,  that  all  the  enjoyments  of 
heaven  would  not  be  able  to  keep  an  American  in  one 
place,  if  he  was  sure  of  finding  another  still  further  west, 
for  then  he  must  be  off  there  to  cultivate  and  to  build. 
It  is  the  Viking  spirit  again ;  not  the  old  Pagan,  however, 
but  the  Christian,  which  does  not  conquer  to  destroy,  but 
to  ennoble.  And  he  does  not  do  it  with  difficulty  and 
with  sighs,  but  cheerfully  and  with  good  courage.  He 
can  sing  "  Yankee  Doodle  "  even  in  his  mishaps ;  for  if  a 
thing  will  not  go  this  way,  then  it  will  go  that.  He  is  at 
home  on  the  earth,  and  he  can  turn  everything  to  his 
own  account.  He  has,  before  he  reaches  middle  life,  been 
a  schoolmaster,  farmer,  lawyer,  soldier,  author,  states 
man  ;  has  tried  every  kind  of  profession,  and  been  at 
home  in  them  all ;  and  besides  all  this,  he  has  travelled 
over  half,  or  over  the  whole  of  the  world.  Wherever  he 
comes  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  in  whatever  circum 
stances,  he  is  sustained  by  a  two-fold  consciousness  which 
makes  him  strong  and  tranquil ;  that  is  to  say,  that  he  is 
a  man  who  can  rely  upon  himself;  and  that  he  is  the 
citizen  of  a  great  nation  designed  to  be  the  greatest  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  He  thus  feels  himself  to  be  the 
lord  of  the  earth,  and  bows  himself  before  none  save  to 
the  Lord  of  lords.  To  Him  however  he  looks  upward, 


254  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

with  the  faith  and  confidence  of  a  child.  A  character  of 
this  kind  is  calculated  to  exhibit  at  times  its  laughable 
side,  but  it  has  undeniably  a  fresh,  peculiar  greatness 
about  it,  and  is  capable  of  accomplishing  great  things. 
And  in  the  attainment  of  the  most  important  object  in 
the  solution  of  the  highest  problem  of  humanity — a 
fraternal  people,  I  believe  that  the  Father  of  all  people 
laid  his  hand  upon  the  head  of  his  youngest  son,  as  our 
Charles  the  Ninth  did,  saying,  "  He  shall  do  it !  he  shall 
do  it ! " 

As  an  example  of  those  amusing  and  characteristic 
instances  of  Yankee  spirit,  which  I  have  often  heard  related, 
take  the  following.  A  young  man,  brother  to  Charles 
Sumner,  travelled  to  Petersburg  to  present  an  acorn  to  the 
Emperor  Nicholas, — but  I  must  tell  you  the  story  as  Maria 
Child  tells  it,  in  her  entertaining  letters  from  New  York. 

"  One  day  a  lad,  apparently  about  nineteen,  presented 
himself  before  our  ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg.  He 
was  a  pure  specimen  of  the  genus  Yankee ;  with  sleeves 
too  short  for  his  bony  arms,  trowsers  half  way  up  to  his 
knees,  and  hands  playing  with  coppers  and  tenpenny  nails 
in  his  pocket.  He  introduced  himself  by  saying — '  I've 
just  come  out  here  to  trade,  with  a  few  Yankee  notions, 
and  I  want  to  get  a  sight  of  the  Emperor.' 

"  '  Why  do  you  wish  to  see  him  ? ' 

"  *  I've  brought  him  a  present  all  the  way  from 
Americky.  I  respect  him  considerable,  and  I  want  to 
get  at  him,  to  give  it  to  him  with  my  own  hands.' 

"  Mr.  Dallas  smiled,  as  he  answered,  '  It  is  such  a 
common  thing,  my  lad,  to  make  crowned  heads  a  present, 
expecting  something  handsome  in  return,  that  I  am  afraid 
the  Emperor  will  consider  this  only  a  Yankee  trick. 
What  have  you  brought  ?  ' 

"  '  An  acorn  !  " 

"  '  An  acorn !  What  under  the  sun  induced  you  to 
bring  the  Emperor  of  Kussia  an  acorn  ? ' 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  255 

"  '  "Why,  just  before  I  sailed,  mother  and  I  went  on  to 
Washington  to  see  about  a  pension ;  and  when  we  was  there, 
we  thought  we'd  just  step  over  to  Mount  Vernon.  I  picked 
up  this  acorn  there  ;  and  I  thought  to  myself  I'd  bring  it 
to  the  Emperor.  Thinks,  says  I,  he  must  have  heard  a 
considerable  deal  about  our  General  Washington,  and  I 
expect  he  must  admire  our  institutions.  So  now  you  see 
I've  brought  it,  and  I  want  to  get  at  him.' 

"  '  My  lad,  it's  not  an  easy  matter  for  a  stranger  to 
approach  the  Emperor ;  and  I  am  afraid  he  will  take  no 
notice  of  your  present.  You  had  better  keep  it.' 

"  *  I  tell  you  I  want  to  have  a  talk  with  him.  I  expect  I 
can  tell  him  a  thing  or  two  about  Americky.  I  guess  he'd 
like  mighty  well  to  hear  about  our  railroads,  and  about 
our  free-schools,  and  what  a  big  swell  our  steamers  cut. 
And  when  he  hears  how  well  our  people  are  getting  on, 
may  be  it  will  put  him  up  to  doing  something.  The  long 
and  the  short  on't  is,  I  shan't  be  easy  till  I  get  a  talk 
with  the  Emperor ;  and  I  should  like  to  see  his  wife  and 
children.  I  want  to  see  how  such  folks  bring  up  a 
family ! ' 

"  '  Well,  sir,  since  you  are  determined  upon  it,  I  will 
do  what  I  can  for  you;  but  you  must  expect  to  be 
disappointed.  Though  it  will  be  rather  an  unusual 
proceeding,  I  would  advise  you  to  call  on  the  vice- 
chancellor,  and  state  your  wishes.  He  may  possibly 
assist  you ! ' 

"  *  Well,  that's  all  I  want  of  you.  I  will  call  again,  and 
let  you  know  how  I  get  on.' 

"  In  two  or  three  days  he  again  appeared,  and  said, 
'  Well,  I've  seen  the  Emperor,  and  had  a  talk  with  him. 
He's  a  real  gentleman,  I  can  tell  you.  When  I  gave  him 
the  acorn,  he  said  he  should  set  a  great  store  by  it ;  that 
there  was  no  character  in  ancient  or  modern  history  he 
admired  so  much  as  he  did  our  Washington.  He  said 
he'd  plant  it  in  his  palace  garden  with  his  own  hand,  and 


256  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

lie  did  do  it  —  for  I  see  him  with  iny  own  eyes.  He 
wanted  to  ask  me  so  much  about  our  schools  and  rail 
roads,  and  one  thing  or  another,  that  he  invited  me  to 
come  again,  and  see  his  daughters ;  for  he  said  his  wife 
could  speak  better  English  than  he  could.  So  I  went 
again  yesterday ;  and  she's  a  fine  knowing  woman,  I  tell 
you ;  and  his  daughters  are  nice  gals/ 

"  '  What  did  the  Empress  say  to  you  ?  ' 

"  '  Oh,  she  ask  me  a  sight  o'questions.  Don't  you 
think,  she  thought  we  had  no  servants  in  Americky  !  I 
told  her  poor  folks  did  their  own  work,  but  rich  folks 
had  plenty  of  servants.'  '  But  then  you  don't  call  'em 
servants,'  said  she ;  '  you  call  'em  help.'  '  I  guess,  ma'am, 
you've  been  reading  Mrs.  Trollope  ?  '  says  I.  '  We  had 
that  ere  book  a-board  our  ship.'  The  Emperor  clapped 
his  hands,  and  laughed  as  if  he'd  kill  himself.  '  You're 
right,  sir,'  said  he,  '  you're  right.  We  sent  for  an  English 
copy,  and  she  been  reading  it  this  very  morning ! '  Then 
I  told  all  I  knew  about  our  country,  and  he  was  mightily 
pleased.  He  wanted  to  know  how  long  I  expected  to  stay 
in  these  parts.  I  told  him  I'd  sold  all  the  notions  I 
brought  over,  and  guessed  I  should  go  back  in  the  same 
ship.  I  bid  'em  good  bye,  all  round,  and  went  about  my 
business.  Ain't  I  had  a  glorious  time  ?  I  expect  you 
did  not  calculate  to  see  me  run  such  a  rig  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  indeed  I  did  not,  my  lad.  You  may  very  well 
consider  yourself  lucky ;  for  it's  a  very  uncommon  thing 
for  crowned  heads  to  treat  a  stranger  with  so  much 
distinction.' 

"  A  few  days  after  he  called  again,  and  said,  '  I  guess  I 
shall  stay  here  a  spell  longer,  I'm  treated  so  well. 
T'other  day  a  grand  officer  come  to  my  room,  and  told 
me  that  the  Emperor  had  sent  him  to  show  me  all  the 
curiosities  ;  and  I  dressed  myself  and  he  took  me  into  a 
mighty  fine  carriage,  with  four  horses  ;  and  I've  been  to 
the  theatre  and  the  museum  ;  and  I  expect  I've  seen  about 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  257 

all  there  is  to  be  seen  in  St.  Peter sburgh.  What  do 
you  think  of  that,  Mr.  Dallas  ?  ' 

"  It  seemed  so  incredible  that  a  poor,  ungainly  Yankee 
lad  should  be  thus  loaded  with  attentions,  that  the  ambas 
sador  scarcely  knew  what  to  think  or  say. 

"  In  a  short  time  his  visitor  re-appeared.  *  Well/  said 
he,  '  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  home ;  so  I  went  to  thank 
the  Emperor  and  bid  him  good-bye.  I  thought  I  could 
not  do  less,  he'd  been  so  civil.  Says  he,  'Is  there  anything 
else  you'd  like  to  see  before  you  go  back  to  Americky  ? ' 
I  told  him  I  should  like  to  have  a  peep  at  Moscow ;  for  I 
had  heard  considerable  about  their  setting  fire  to  the 
Kremlin,  and  I'd  read  a  deal  about  General  Buonaparte  ; 
but  it  would  cost  a  sight  o'  money  to  go  there,  and  I 
wanted  to  carry  my  earnings  to  my  mother.  So  I  bid 
him  good-bye,  and  come  off.  Now  what  do  you  guess  he 
did  next  morning  ?  I  vow  he  sent  the  same  man  in 
regimentals,  to  carry  me  to  Moscow  in  one  of  his  own 
carriages,  and  bring  me  back  again,  when  I've  seen  all  I 
want  to  see !  And  we're  going  to-morrow  morning, 
Mr.  Dallas.  What  do  you  think  now  ?  ' 

"  And  sure  enough  the  next  morning  the  Yankee  boy 
passed  the  ambassador's  house  in  a  splendid  coach  and 
four,  waving  his  pocket-handkerchief,  and  shouting  '  Good 
bye  !  Good-bye  ! ' 

"Mr.  Dallas  afterwards  learned  from  the  Emperor  that 
all  the  particulars  related  by  this  adventurous  youth  were 
strictly  true.  He  again  heard  from  him  at  Moscow, 
waited  upon  by  the  public  officers,  and  treated  with 
as  much  attention  as  is  usually  bestowed  on  ambassadors. 

"  The  last  tidings  of  him  reported  that  he  was  travelling 
in  Circassia,  and  writing  a  journal,  which  he  intended  to 
publish. 

"  Now  who  but  a  Yankee  could  have  done  all  that  ?  " 
adds  Mrs.  Child. 

Between  this  young  Yankee  and  the  American  states- 

VOL.  I.  6 


258  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

man  and  gentleman  Henry  Clay,  there  is — a  great  distance, 
and  I  do  not  know  why  he  just  now  presented  himself  to 
my  memory  out  of  the  great  number  of  persons  that 
I  saw  in  New  York  this  week.  I  saw  him  at  the  house  of 
Anne  Lynch,  who  is  one  of  his  especial  lady  friends,  and 
sometimes  acts  as  his  secretary.  He  is  a  very  tall  and 
thin  old  gentleman,  with  an  unusually  lofty,  bald  brow,  an 
ugly  but  expressive  countenance,  an  awkward  figure,  but 
with  real  grace  of  manner  and  a  pleasing,  sonorous  voice. 
He  has  when  he  likes,  and  he  always  likes  to  have  it 
with  ladies,  a  remarkably  obliging,  I  might  say  heart-felt, 
expression  and  manner.  He  is  likewise  surrounded  by 
female  worshippers,  and  he  himself  seems  to  be  a  great 
worshipper  of  woman.  He  has  been  some  few  days  in 
New  York,  and  overwhelmed  by  friends  and  invitations. 
He  seemed,  however,  to  me  to  bask  himself  in  the 
sunshine  of  his  popularity  more  than  I  should  have 
thought  an  old  man  would  have  done.  I  should  not 
have  thought  that  he  could  have  endured  that  horrible 

fine  life   of  day  labour  ! The  Americans    have  more 

enthusiasm  for  their  great  statesmen  than  the  Europeans 
for  their  kings.  Clay,  though  from  one  of  their  slave- 
states  (Kentucky),  is,  I  believe,  a  liberal-minded  man, 
who  understands  and  who  desires  the  true  greatness  of 
his  country.  Although  not  properly  of  the  Yankee  race — 
for  the  Southern  states  were  peopled  by  that  political 
party,  known  in  England  under  the  name  of  Cavaliers, 
and  opposed  to  the  Puritans  in  manners,  life,  and  temper — 
he  has,  nevertheless,  some  of  that  viking-spirit  which 
distinguishes  the  sons  of  the  New  World.  He  is  what 
is  here  designated  "  a  self-made  man ; "  his  father  was 
a  poor  farmer,  and  his  life  has  been  a  restless  combat  on 
the  stormy  sea  of  politics ;  he  has  fought  several  duels, 
and  as  a  senator,  has  combated  by  word,  and  by 
influence  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
well-being  of  the  Union  at  home  and  for  its  power 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  259 

abroad,  during  a  long  course  of  years,  both  bravely  and 
honourably. 

Yet  another  figure  glances  distinctly  forth  from  these 
days  so  rich  in  people — a  lovely,  captivating  female  figure, 
the  perfect  gentlewoman — Mrs.  Bancroft,  the  wife  of  the 
historian  of  that  name.  After  several  years'  residence  in 
Europe,  and  acquaintance  with  the  high  life  of  the  highest 
circles  in  England,  she  has  returned  to  America  with  a 
definite  understanding  and  a  warm  sense  of  the  advantages 
of  her  native  land  and  of  its  mission  to  humanity. 

Mrs.  Kirkland  took  me  back  to  the  S.'s.  Ah 
Agatha,  if  I  could  only  show  to  you  how  amiable  is 
this  married  couple,  how  good,  how  pure,  how  delicate- 
minded  !  Marcus  is  certainly  one  of  the  best  and  most 
warm-hearted  beings  that  beautify  this  earth.  And 
Eebecca  is  good  also,  unusually  endowed,  amusing,  and 
most  charming.  To  do  good  and  to  help  others  is  their 
greatest  joy — their  continual  thought.  And  besides  that, 
they  are  so  cheerful,  have  such  a  good  and  beautiful  and 
excellent  way  of  taking  anything,  that  even  that  which  is 
vexatious  changes  itself  into  something  good  and  agreeable 
in  their  hands.  And  if  people  could  only  communicate 
such  things  by  teaching,  I  should  learn  much  from  them. 
Happier  human  beings  I  have  never  seen.  And  they  them 
selves  are  so  filled  with  gratitude  for  the  happiness  which 
they  have  experienced  and  still  experience,  that  they  are 
prepared  to  receive  whatever  blow  may  come,  in  the  feel 
ing  that  they  have  had  so  much  of  this  world's  good  fortune. 
But  misfortune  seems  not  to  have  the  heart  to  strike 
these  gentle  and  grateful  beings,  who  look  at  it  with 
glances  of  submissive  love ;  it  approaches  and  threatens, 
but  then  passes  by.  Thus  was  it  with  regard  to  their 
baby,  which  long  hovered  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  but 
which  now  becomes  daily  stronger  and  livelier.  How 
kind  they  have  been  and  are  to  me  I  have  not  words  to 
tell !  They  think  for  me,  arrange  everything  for  me  and 

s  2 


260  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

look  after  me  as  if  I  were  their  sister  ;  and  they  do  every 
thing  so  nicely  and  so  well.  I  cannot  be  sufficiently 
grateful  for  these  friends. 

The  Downings  also — those  amiable  people  and  kind 
friends — are  to  me  invaluable.  They  came  to  New  York 
to  see  me,  and  brought  me  the  most  beautiful  flowers. 
His  dark  eyes,  and  her  gentle,  bright  blue  ones,  as  blue 
as  our  Swedish  violets,  will  accompany  me  on  my  journey 
— will  remain  in  my  heart. 

March  16th. — But  I  do  not  know  how  rightly  I  am  to 
get  away,    there  is  so  much  difficulty  both  as  regards 

the  vessels  and the  captains.     The  captain,  that  is  to 

say  him  of  the  sailing-vessel,  when  he  learnt  the  name  of 
the  lady-passenger  who  wished  to  sail  in  his  vessel — 
refused  to  receive  her  on  board ;  and  when  Marcus 
insisted  upon  knowing  his  reason  why,  he  replied  that  he 
did  not  wish  to  have  any  authors  on  board  his  ship  who 
would  laugh  to  scorn  his  accommodations,  and  who  would 
put  him  in  a  book.  Marcus  laughed  and  wanted  to  per 
suade  him  to  run  the  risk,  assuring  him  that  I  was  not 
dangerous,  and  so  on.  But  the  man  was  immoveable. 
He  would  not  take  me  on  board  ;  and  I  have  now  to  wait 
till  the  next  steam-boat  goes,  which  is  eight  days  later. 
And  for  this  I  have  to  thank  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Dickens. 
But  I  am  happy  at  Rose  Cottage  with  my  amiable  friends, 
and  this  delay  has  afforded  me  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
Emerson's  lectures  at  various  times,  both  here  and  in 
New  York.  It  is  a  peculiar  pleasure  to  hear  that  deep, 
sonorous  voice  uttering  words  which  give  the  impression 
of  jewels  and  real  pearls  as  they  fall  from  his  lips. 
I  heard  him  yesterday  in  his  lecture  on  eloquence  severely 
chastise  the  senseless  exaggeration  and  inflation  of  expres 
sion  made  use  of  by  some  of  his  countrymen,  and  which 
he  compared  with  the  natural  and  poetically  beautiful,  yet 
destructive  hyperbole  of  the  East.  He  produced  examples 
of  both,  and  the  assembly,  in  the  best  possible  humour 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  261 

with,  their  lecturer,  gave  the  most  lively  demonstrations  of 
approval  and  pleasure.  Marcus  S.  and  some  other 
gentlemen  of  Brooklyn  invited  Emerson  to  give  these 
lectures,  and  I  thus  saw  him  there  several  times.  Perhaps 
we  may  never  meet  again.  But  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  him. 
20th. — We  have  had  two  quiet  beautiful  evenings,  for  I 
do  not  this  time  either  receive  visits,  or  accept  invi 
tations,  unless  exceptionally;  I  must  rest.  My  friends 
and  I  have  therefore  heen  alone,  and  we  have  spent  the 
evenings  in  reading  and  conversation.  I  have  read  a  letter 
which  they  have  received  from  Margaret  Fuller,  now  the 
Marchioness  Ossoli,  for  her  marriage  is  now  divulged,  and 
her  advocate,  Mr.  W.  K.,  was  perfectly  right.  Madame 
Ossoli  is  now,  with  her  husband  and  child,  on  her  way  to 
America,  where  she  will  take  up  her  residence.  And  on 
board  the  same  vessel  is  also  that  young  man  who  travelled 
to  Petersburg,  and  gave  the  Emperor  of  Russia  the  acorn. 
Her  last  letter  is  from  Gibraltar,  and  describes  the 
affectingly  beautiful  evening  when  the  body  of  the  captain — 
he  had  died  of  small-pox — was  lowered  into  the  sea,  above 
which  the  evening  sun  descended  brilliantly,  and  small  craft 
lay  with  white  sails  outspread  like  the  wings  of  angels.  A 
certain  melancholy  breathes  through  the  letter,  and  a 
thoroughly  noble  tone  of  mind,  with  no  trace  whatever  of 
that  insolent  and  proud  spirit  which  various  things  had 
led  me  to  expect  in  her.  In  her  letter  to  Rebecca  she 
spoke  of  her  joy  as  a  mother,  and  of  her  beautiful  child, 
in  the  most  touching  manner.  "  I  can  hardly  understand 
my  own  happiness,"  she  says  in  one  place ;  "  I  am  the 
mother  of  an  immortal  being, — '  God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner ! ' '  That  does  not  sound  much  like  pride  !  She 
has  sent  home  a  box  of  presents  and  souvenirs  for  her 
friends,  "  in  case  I  should  not  again  see  my  father-land," 
says  she.  She  has  commenced  the  voyage  with  joyless 
presentiments ;  and  now  that  the  good  captain  of  the 
vessel  is  dead,  during  the  voyage  they  seem  to  increase. 


262  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Yet  all  has  gone  well  hitherto,  and  her  mother,  three 
brothers,  and  her  only  sister,  the  young  amiable  lady  at 
Concord,  and  many  of  her  friends,  expect  her  with  longing 
and  with  joy. 

22nd. — Yesterday  I  visited  the  Female  Academy  at 
Brooklyn,  an  educational  institute  for  five  hundred  young 
girls,  where  they  study  and  graduate  as  young  men  do. 
I  admired  the  arrangement  of  the  establishment,  its 
museum,  library,  &c.,  and  was  especially  pleased  with  the 
deportment  of  the  young  girls  ;  heard  their  compositions 
both  in  prose  and  verse,  liked  them  and  the  young  ladies 
who  read  them.  I  also  heard  here  a  song,  with  which,  to 
my  shame  I  say  it,  I  have  been  greeted  two  or  three 
times  in  this  country,  because  the  words,  in  which  I  cannot 
discover  a  grain  of  sense  or  connection,  have  been 
dedicated  to  me,  (they  begin,  "  I  dream,  I  dream  of  my 
father-land  ")  and  the  music  to — Jenny  Lind !  C'est 
imprimee  !  These  finishing  schools  for  young  girls  give 
unquestionably  a  deal  of  finish,  various  kinds  of 
knowledge,  demeanour  in  society,  self-possession,  &c. 
But  are  they  calculated  to  develop  that  which  is  best  in 
woman  ?  I  doubt  it ;  and  I  have  heard  sensible  women 
in  this  country,  even  among  the  young,  doubt  also,  or 
rather  deny  that  they  are.  They  may  be  good  as  a 
temporary  means  of  leading  women  into  those  spheres  of 
knowledge  from  which  they  have  hitherto  been  excluded. 
Thus  these  young  ladies  are  universally  commended  for 
the  progress  which  they  make,  and  for  their  skill  in 
mathematical  studies,  in  algebra,  and  physics.  But  it  is 
clear  to  me  that  the  pursuit  of  these  scholastic  studies 
must  involve  the  neglect  of  much  domestic  virtue  and 
pleasure.  The  young  girl,  in  her  zeal  to  prepare  her 
lessons,  snubs  her  mother,  and  looks  cross  at  her  father, 
if  they  venture  to  interrupt  her.  They  call  forth  her 
ambition  at  the  expense  of  her  heart.  They  lay  too 
much  stress  upon  school  learning.  The  highest  object  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  263 

schools  should  be  to  prepare  people  to  do  without  them. 
At  all  events  the  life  of  the  young  girl  ought  to  be  divided 
between  the  school  and  home,  so  that  the  school  may 
have  but  a  small  part  of  it.  The  good  home  is  the  true 
high  school. 

But  I  almost  reproach  myself  for  saying  so  much 
against  an  institution  where  I  experienced  so  much  of  the 
young  heart's  warmth  as  I  did  here.  Certain  it  is  that  I 
embraced  and  was  embraced,  that  I  kissed  and  was 
kissed,  by  daughters,  and  nieces,  and  mammas,  and  aunts, 
so  that  there  was  almost — too  much  of  it.  But  the  warm 
heartedness  there  warmed  my  own  heart,  and  I  bore  away 
with  me  many  lively  memories  of  it. 

I  am  now  preparing  for  my  departure,  and  in  the  mean 
time  have  taken  the  portraits  of  my  friends  and  their 
children,  "the  rose-coloured  family,"  in  a  little  group  of 
heads,  which  I  leave  with  them  as  a  memorial  of  me.  I  was 
very  sorry  to  part  with  it.  I  should  like  to  have  had  it 
always  with  me.  But  I  shall  see  them  again,  for  I  am 
returning  here.  Great  part  of  my  books  and  clothes,  as 
well  as  my  one  chest,  I  shall  leave  at  their  house.  When 
I  look  at  the  former,  and  see  the  thick  volumes  of  Hegel's 
Philosophy  and  Scandinavian  Mythology,  which  I  intended 
to  have  studied  during  my  visit  to  this  country,  I  cannot 
but  smile.  I  have  not  once  thought  of  opening  them. 

March  2±th. — Yesterday  Channing  was  here,  the 
amiable  W.  H.  Channing  !  He  came  in  the  morning, 
fresh  and  dewy  as  a  morning  in  May.  We  had  during 
the  winter  exchanged  a  couple  of  letters,  and  in  them  had 
got  a  little  atwist.  Emerson  was  the  apple  of  discord 
between  us.  Channing  set  up  Emerson,  and  I  set  up — 
myself.  And  thus  we  both  became  silent.  When  we 
now  met  he  was  most  cordial  and  beaming,  gave  me  a 
volume  of  Wordsworth's,  the  "Excursion" — and  was 
perfectly  kind  and  amiable.  W^ith  such  men  one  breathes 
the  air  of  spring. 


264  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

There  was  a  little  party  in  the  evening,  Channing 
among  the  rest.  After  he  had  said  good  night  and  left 
the  house,  he  came  hastily  back,  and  calling  me  out,  led 
me  into  the  piazza,  where  pointing  up  to  the  starry 
heavens,  which  shone  forth  in  beaming  splendour  above 
us,  he  smiled,  pressed  my  hand,  and — was  gone. 

But  I  must  not  talk  only  of  myself  and  my  own  affairs ; 
I  must  say  a  little  about  the  affairs  of  the  public.  The 
question  of  universal  interest,  and  which  now  occupies 
everyone,  regards  the  incorporation  of  California  and 
Texas  with  the  Union  as  independent  States.  The  whole 
country  may  be  said  to  be  divided  into  two  parties, — 
Pro -Slavery,  and  An  ti- Slavery.  California,  rapidly  popu 
lated,  and  that  principally  from  the  North-Eastern  States, 
the  enterprising  sons  of  the  Pilgrims,  has  addressed  to 
Congress  a  petition  to  be  freed  from  slavery,  and  to  be 
acknowledged  as  a  free  state.  To  this  the  Southern 
slave  states  will  not  consent,  as  California  by  its  position 
belongs  to  the  Southern  States,  and  its  freedom  from 
slavery  would  lessen  their  weight  in  Congress.  They 
contend  desperately  for  the  maintenance  of  what  they 
call  their  rights.  The  Northern  free  states  contend 
just  as  desperately,  in  part  to  prevent  the  extension  of 
slavery  to  California  and  Texas,  and  in  part  to  bring 
about  the  abolition  of  that  which  they  with  reason  regard 
as  a  misfortune  and  a  plague-spot  to  their  father-land. 
And  the  contest  is  carried  on.  with  a  good  deal  of  bitter 
ness  on  both  sides,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress. 

Abolitionists  are  here  of  all  shades.  Various  of  my 
acquaintance  belong  to  the  Ultras;  the  S.'s  to  the 
Moderates,  and  to  these  last  I  attach  myself;  I  think  the 
others  unreasonable. 

The  continually  increasing  emigration  of  the  poorest 
classes  of  Europe,  principally  from  Ireland  and  Germany, 
has  given  rise  to  great  exertions,  not  to  oppose  it,  but  to 
deal  with  it,  and  to  make  it  not  merely  uninjurious,  but  as 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  265 

beneficial  as  possible,  both  for  the  country  and  the  people 
themselves. 

The  Irish  become  here  the  best  labourers  which 
America  possesses,  in  particular  for  the  making  of  roads 
and  canals.  The  Germans  are  assisted  for  the  most 
part,  to  the  West,  to  the  great  German  colonies  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  where  all  hands  and  all 
kinds  of  human  qualifications  are  in  demand.  There 
begin  to  be  in  the  Eastern  States,  as  in  Europe,  more 
labourers  than  labour ;  but  these  also  are  moving  off  in 
great  numbers  westward.  That  great  West,  as  far  as  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  is  the  future,  and  the  hope  of  North 
America,  the  free  space  and  boundless  prospect  of  which 
give  to  its  people  a  freer  respiration,  a  fresher  life  than 
any  other  nation  enjoys. 

On  all  questions  of  general  interest  in  the  separate 
States,  meetings  are  held,  resolutions  taken,  and  motions 
or  petitions  sent  up  to  Congress,  where  the  carrying  them 
out  comes  within  its  administration.  And  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  hear  how  they  all,  at  least  in  the  Northern  States,  march 
onward  for  the  advancement  of  popular  education,  and 
for  the  development  of  popular  power,  and  all  such  public 
measures  as  tend  to  the  general  advantage. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  agitation  of  these  great  questions 
there  comes  at  this  moment  the  news  of  Jenny  Lind's 
expected  arrival,  which  has  gone  like  wild-fire  through  the 
country,  electrifying  everybody  and  causing  every  counte 
nance  to  clear  up.  It  is  as  if  a  melodious  major  key 
echoed  in  every  breast. 

Thanks,  my  sweet  child,  for  what  you  write  about  our 
friends  and  acquaintance  at  home.  Greet  them  for  me, 
and  tell  Mrs.  L.  that  I  think  of  her  as  tenderly  and  as 
faithfully  as  in  Sweden.  One  of  the  happiest  days  of 
my  life  will  be  when  I  hear  that  she  has  recovered  from 
her  illness. 

I  must  have  mentioned  to  you,  as  among  my  kindest 


266  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

acquaintance  in  Boston,  the  Longfellows,  both  man 
and  wife,  and  Professor  and  Mrs.  How.  I  always  felt 
animated,  both  heart  and  soul,  when  I  was  with  them. 
Mrs.  How,  a  most  charming  little  creature,  fresh  and 
frank  in  character,  and  endowed  with  a  delicate  sense  of 
the  beautiful,  I  could  really  get  very  fond  of. 

I  have  declined  the  offers  of  several  portrait-painters, 
but  I  could  not  help  sitting  to  one  in  Boston,  a  Mr. 
Furniss,  an  agreeable  young  man ;  and  he  has  taken  a 
pleasing  likeness  of  me.  People  say  it  is  very  like,  and 
it  is  to  be  engraved. 

I  now  bid  you  farewell ;  embrace  and  kiss  mamma's 
hand  in  spirit.  May  you  be  able  soon  to  tell  me  that 
you  are  quite  well !  I  salute  every  spring  day  that  comes, 
on  your  account.  And  we  have  had  here  some  beautiful, 
vernally  mild  da}rs,  but  the  weather  is  now  again  cold, 
and  as  severe,  and  keen,  and  snowy  as  it  ever  is 
at  this  season  in  Sweden.  But  it  will  soon  change  again. 
And  how  I  long  for  the  South  ! 

I  have  rested  now  thoroughly  for  some  days,  and  I 
feel  myself  stronger  each  day.  May  my  clear  Agatha 
only  feel  the  same  ! 

P.S. — Mrs.  W.  H.  of  Charleston  has  written  to  me 

and  kindly  invited  me  to  her  house  there.  But 1 

must  see  her  first  to  know  whether  we  can  get  on  well 
together.  I  shall  therefore,  in  the  first  instance,  go  to 
an  hotel  in  the  city,  and  remain  there  for  a  few  da}rs  in 
the  most  perfect  quiet,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom 
and  solitude.  Then  we  shall  see  ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  267 


LETTER  XII. 

CHARLESTON,  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  March  22nd,  1850. 

AH  that  I  could  but  fly  away  and  cast  a  glance 
into  my  home  and  see  how  it  is  with  my  Agatha  and 
mamma  !  But  ah !  "  that  cannot  be,  your  grace  !  "  said 
the  duck,  and  therefore  I  must  sit  dull  and  silent  as  a 
duck,  and  enjoy  myself  by  hoping  and  trusting  that 
you  are  advancing  with  great  strides  on  the  path  of 
improvement,  and  that  you  are  becoming  more  and 
more  like  Taglioni  in  agility  and  grace.  May  it  be 
so,  my  little  heart !  and  may  everything  be  well  at 
home  ! 

Things  have  gone  splendidly  with  me.  I  arrived 
this  morning,  after  a  voyage  of  three  days  and  nights, 
expecting  to  have  found  here  full  summer,  and  somewhat 
annoyed,  instead  of  that,  to  find  the  weather  cold  and 
grey,  and  to  be  obliged  to  go  about  in  winter  clothing. 
But  it  cannot  last  long.  The  trees,  for  all  the  streets 
are  planted  with  trees,  are  already  clothed  in  tender 
green ;  roses,  lilies,  and  orange-blossoms  beckon  from 
terraces  and  gardens,  and  the  sun  begins  to  break  through 
the  clouds.  Probably,  in  the  morning,  it  will  be  real 
summer  again. 

The  weather  during  the  last  days  of  my  stay  at 
Brooklyn  was  wild  and  winterly,  and  the  day  I  went 
on  board  was  icy-cold;  one  saw  ice  and  icicles  every 
where  ;  the  sharp  wind  was  full  of  icicles.  The  good, 
amiable  Marcus  and  Rebecca,  with  their  two  eldest  chil 
dren,  the  angelic  Eddie  and  the  merry  little  Jenny, 
accompanied  me  on  board.  Marcus  carried  my  luggage, 
spoke  to  the  captain  and  to  the  stewardess  for  me, 
and  arranged  everything. 

I  was  so  overwhelmed  by  introductions  to  strange  people 


268  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

that  I  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  my  room  that  I 
might  say  a  few  words  and  take  leave  of  my  friends. 

I  really  sate  down  and  grieved  for  an  hour  after  the 
S.'s  had  left  me,  and  I  was  borne  upon  the  waves 
farther  and  farther  from  them.  At  night  I  dreamed  that 
they  were  with  me,  and  I  thought,  then,  they  are  not  gone, 
and  we  are  not  parted ;  it  was  merely  a  bad  dream  ! 
But  the  dream  was  true  enough. 

The  whole  of  the  first  day  of  the  voyage  was  cold,  grey, 
and  cheerless.  I  avoided  everybody  excepting  a  couple 
of  Quakers,  Friends  as  they  are  commonly  called,  a  man 
and  his  wife,  with  whom  I  became  a  little  acquainted,  and 
who  pleased  me  as  Friends  generally  do  by  their  quietness 
and  their  peaceful,  silent  demeanour.  Their  earliest 
youth  was  past;  she  had  one  of  those  pure,  beautiful 
countenances  which  one  so  often  meets  with  among  Quaker 
women ;  he  seemed  to  be  out  of  health,  and  they  were 
travelling  to  the  South  on  his  account.  The  next  day 
we  had  splendid  sunshine,  but  still  cold,  till  towards 
noon,  when  we  seemed,  all  at  once,  to  come  into  really 
warm  spring.  It  was  like  magic.  Sky  and  sea  were 
bathed  in  light ;  the  air  was  full  of  life  and  delicious 
influence.  It  was  enchantingly  beautiful,  divine  !  My 
whole  being  was  suffused  with  this  glory.  I  avoided  the 
catechising  conversation  and  sate  down  on  the  upper 
deck,  and  saw  the  sun  go  down  and  the  full  moon  ascend 
in  mild  splendour ;  saw  the  north-star  shining  at  yet  greater 
distance  from  me^  and  Orion  and  Sirius  ascend  to  the 
zenith.  Hour  after  hour  went  by  and  I  was  unconscious 
of  everything  excepting  that  the  new  world  was  beautiful, 
and  its  Creator  great  and  good.  I  feared  nothing 
excepting  that  somebody  might  come  and  talk  to  me  and 
thus  interrupt  the  glorious  silence,  the  repose  and  gladness 
of  my  spirit. 

I  saw,  on  the  lower  deck,  young  men  and  their  wives 
come  out  into  the  clear  moonlight,  pair  after  pair,  cooing 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  269 

affectionately  like  doves ;  saw  the  Friends,  my  friends, 
sitting  side  by  side,  gazing  upwards  at  the  moon  which 
shone  upon  their  mild  and  calm  countenances  ;  saw  the 
moonbeams  dancing  upon  the  dancing  billows  while 
we  were  borne  onward  along  the  calm  sea  towards  Cape 
Hatteras,  the  light-house  of  which  shone  towards  us,  like 
a  huge  star  on  the  south  horizon. 

At  Cape  Hatteras  we  were  to  enter  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  this  point  is  one  of  danger  to  the  mariner.  Violent 
gusts  of  wind  and  storm  are  generally  encountered  there ; 
and  many  a  fearful  shipwreck  has  occurred  at  Cape 
Hatteras ;  but  tempest  and  disaster  came  not  near  us. 
The  moon  shone,  the  billows  danced,  the  wind  was  still, 
the  pairs  of  turtle-doves  cooed,  and  the  Friends  slumbered ; 
we  passed  Cape  Hatteras  at  midnight,  and  I  hoped 
now  to  be  in  the  region  of  steady  summer  warmth.  But 
psha  !  Nothing  of  the  kind. 

Next  morning  it  was  again  grey  and  cold  and  cheerless, 
and  not  at  all  like  summer.  One  portion  of  the  company 
lay  in  their  berths  suffering  from  sea-sickness  ;  another 
portion  sate  down  to  a  merry  game  of  cards  under  an 
awning  on  deck.  I  sate  apart  with  the  Friends  who  were 
silent  arid  at  last  went  to  sleep.  But  I  was  full  of  life  and 
wide  awake  all  day ;  felt  remarkably  well  and  spent  a  rich 
forenoon  in  company  with  the  sea  and  with  Bancroft's 
"History  of  the  United  States,"  which  interests  me  extremely 
as  well  from  its  truly  philosophical  spirit  as  for  its  excel 
lent  narrative  style.  In  the  former  he  resembles  our 
Geijer,  in  the  latter,  D'Aubigne.  I  read  also  on  the 
voyage  a  little  pamphlet  on  "  Special  Providence "  by 
a  sort  of  renowned  clairvoyant  of  New  York,  named 
Davis,  but  a  production  which  more  clearly  testified  to 
the  blindness  of  the  spirit  I  never  saw,  and  I  knew 
not  whether  to  be  more  astonished  at  its  pretension  or 
at  its  poverty. 

On  the   morning  of  the   fourth  day  we   were    before 


270  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Charleston.  The  morning  was  grey  and  cheerless  and 
not  agreeable.  But  the  shores  around  the  bay  covered 
with  dark  cedar-woods,  and  pale  green  broad-leaved  trees 
had  a  singular  but  attractive  appearance.  Everything 
was  novel  to  niy  eyes,  even  the  exterior  of  the  city,  which 
rather  resembled  a  city  of  the  European  continent,  at 
least  in  the  style  of  its  houses,  than  either  Boston  or  New 
York.  A  young  gentleman  with  whom  I  had  had  some 
excellent  conversation  on  board,  and  whom  I  liked — 
excepting  that  he  would  make  a  show  with  his  French, 
which,  after  all,  was  nothing  to  make  any  show  with — now 
stood  with  me  on  deck  observing  the  country,  where  he 
was  at  home,  and  crying  up  the  happiness  of  the  negro- 
slaves,  which  did  not  much  enhance  his  own  worth ;  for 
remarks  of  this  kind  only  show  want  of  judgment  or  of 
politeness.  A  young  lady  who  had  shared  my  cabin,  and 
been  silent  and  sea-sick  the  whole  time,  now  lifted  up  her 
head  and  instantly  asked  me  "  how  I  liked  America  ?  " 

Mrs.  W.  H.  sent  her  brother,  a  handsome,  middle- 
aged  gentleman,  to  take  me  in  a  carriage  to  her  house, 
but  I  preferred  my  own  freedom,  and  to  accompany  the 
Friends  to  the  hotel  which  they  had  decided  upon  for 
themselves.  And  there  am  I  now,  in  a  little  room  with 
four  bare,  white -washed  walls. 

I  have  been  out  wandering  about  the  town  for  two  good 
hours,  pleased  with  my  solitude  and  by  the  great  number 
of  new  objects  which  meet  my  eye  everywhere;  by  the 
appearance  of  the  town  with  its  numerous  gardens  (for  it 
is  like  a  great  assemblage  of  country  houses,  each  one 
with  its  verandah  or  piazza  ornamented  with  foliage  and 
flowers) ;  by  the  many  kinds  of  trees,  all  strange  to  me, 
and  which  are  now  in  flower  or  in  leaf  (I  only  saw  one 
without  leaves,  but  with  its  stem  and  tops  covered  with  pink 
blossoms);  by  the  dark-green  orange  groves  in  the  gardens, 
and  which  whisper  and  diffuse  their  fragrance  on  the 
breeze.  Negroes  swarm  in  the  streets.  Two  thirds  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  271 

people  whom  one  sees  out  in  the  town,  are  negroes  or 
mulattoes.  They  are  ugly,  but  appear  for  the  most  part 
cheerful  and  well  fed.  In  particular  one  sees  fat  negro  and 
mulatto  women,  and  their  bright  coloured  handkerchiefs, 
often  wound  very  tastefully  round  the  head,  produce  a 
picturesque  appearance,  a  thousand  times  preferable  to 
the  bonnets  and  caps  which  they  wear  in  the  free  States, 
and  which  are  unbecoming  to  them. 

That  which  struck  me  most  in  the  streets,  after  the 
great  number  of  negroes,  was  the  large  flocks  of  turkey- 
buzzards,  which  stalk  about  here  and  there,  picking  up 
any  offal  which  they  can  find  to  eat.  They  are  so  fear 
less,  that  they  will  scarcely  move  out  of  your  way.  I  saw 
numbers  of  them  also,  sitting  in  rows  on  the  roofs  and 
chimneys,  and  a  very  strange  appearance  they  made, 
stretching  out  their  heavy  wings  in  the  air  and  the  sun 
shine.  They  are  regarded  in  Charleston  as  a  species  of 
city-scavengers,  and  are  therefore  welcome  to  the  streets. 
It  is  forbidden  to  destroy  them. 

March  29th. — Cold,  cold,  still  intolerably  cold  to 
day. 

At  five  o'clock  this  morning  I  heard  the  drum  which 
calls  the  negro  slaves  to  work. 

Yesterday  afternoon  I  was  invited  by  my  acquaintance 
from  the  Northern  States,  who  are  here  in  the  hotel,  to 
drive  out  with  them,  and  we  had  a  charming  drive  in  the 
beautiful  sunshine.  The  country  is  altogether  flat, 
as  far  as  one  can  see.  Beautiful  forest  tracts,  plantations 
of  trees,  and  water,  all  contribute  a  charm  to  it.  The 
town  itself  lies  by  the  sea,  upon  a  peninsula,  between  two 
rivers,  the  Ashley  and  Cooper,  which  discharge  them 
selves  into  the  sea. 

My  friends  brought  oranges  and  bananas  for  me,  as 
we  drove  along,  and  I  now  for  the  first  time  tasted  this 
tropical  fruit,  which  people  here  are  so  fond  of.  It  has  a 
delicate,  sweet,  somewhat  insipid,  flavour;  in  form  it 


272  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

resembles  our  large  seed-cucumbers ;  in  colour  and  in 
flesh  it  is  like  a  melon,  but  less  juicy.  I  could  have  fancied 
I  was  biting  into  soap.  I  have  a  notion  that  we  shall  not 
become  good  friends,  the  banana  and  I. 

My  Quaker  friends  left  early  this  morning  to  go  still 
farther  south,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  summer  air.  It  was 
too  cold  for  them  here.  The  month  of  February  was  here 
very  warm,  and  the  yellow  jasmine  which  then  flowers 
is  now  nearly  over. 

I  must  now  bid  you  adieu,  as  I  must  go  out  and 
call  on  Mrs.  W.  H.,  and  see  whether  I  could  be  happy 
with  her.  If  not,  I  shall  remain  quietly  here,  although  it 
is  certainly  no  Eldorado.  The  hotel  is  probably  not  one 
of  the  best  in  the  city.  A  chaos  of  negro  lads  throng 
about  the  dinner  and  supper  table,  pretending  to  be  waiters, 
but  they  do  nothing  more  than  spring  hither  and  thither, 
round  one  another,  without  either  dexterity  or  order,  and 
move  about  everything  on  the  table,  without  rhyme  or 
reason  which  I  can  discover.  I  am  waited  on  in  my  room 
by  a  pretty  mulatto  girl,  very  ragged,  yet  with  such  a  good 
and  patient  look, — that  it  makes  me  unhappy.  I  asked 
her  how  much  wages  she  had ;  she  looked  at  me  with 
astonishment,  and  replied,  "  that  she  belonged  to  Missis." 
But  "  Missis  "  is  a  lady,  of  a  stern  mien,  and  keen-eyed, 
whose  property  I  would  not  willingly  be,  and — poor  girl ! 
Miss  D.  told  me  that  a  young  servant  girl  of  the  house 
had  last  year  been  flogged  by  the  gentleman  of  the 
house,  the  son  of  the  lady. 

I  could  remain  here  very  well  a  few  days  longer,  and 
then  proceed  further  south,  to  Savannah  and  to  Augusta 
in  Georgia,  whither  I  am  invited  by  my  fellow  passengers 
of  the  "Canada,"  the  family  of  the  name  of  B.  and 
Miss  L.  I  ought  to  remain  there  through  the  month  of 
April,  for  there  one  sees  the  paradise  of  the  South. 
And  I  ought  to  take  the  opportunity  of  seeing  something 
of  the  plantations  there.  If  the  Southerners  knew  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  273 

what  an  unprejudiced  and  honest  intention  I  come  to 
them,  merely  seeking  for  the  truth  in  everything,  and 
ready  to  do  justice  to  the  good  in  all,  even  in  slavery, 
then  would  they  not  meet  me  with  suspicious  glances. 
I  have  besides  no  wish  to  penetrate  particularly  into  the 
most  sorrowful  side  of  Southern  life.  That  has  been 
penetrated  into  enough  already.  I  wish  to  see  nature, 
life — that  which  the  New  World  is  becoming  here  also,  and 
that  aspect  of  life,  as  a  part  of  it,  which  is  the  result  of 
position  and  the  gifts  of  nature.  I  wish  therefore  to 
avoid  conversations  on  slavery  with  people  in  general ; 
and  with  some  individuals  in  particular.  With  sensible 
and  right-minded  people  however,  many  of  whom  are  to 
be  met  with  here,  I  will  talk  of  slavery,  will  question 
them,  and  listen  to  them,  and  I  am  certain  that  we  shall 
understand  each  other  and  perfectly  agree,  if  not  always 
in  the  thing,  at  all  events  in  disposition  of  mind.  I  am 
come  hither  to  see  and  to  learn,  not  as  a  spy.  I  wish  to 
have  in  the  South,  mild  atmosphere,  flowers,  repose,  health; 
and  the  good  that  it  has  and  does  will  I  acknowledge 
with  all  my  heart.  I  also  believe  that  there  are  few 
Southerners  who  do  not  regard  slavery  as  the  misfortune 
of  the  country,  although  they  consider  it  difficult  to  be 
rid  of  it. 

From  Savannah  I  shall  write  again  to  you.  Now  merely 
a  kiss  and  heartfelt  wishes  that  this  may  find  you  once 
more  active  and  well. 

Later. — Yet  a  few  more  words  to  tell  you  that  I  have 
seen  Mrs.  W.  H.  and  her  children,  and  that  I  remove 
to-morrow  to  her  house  and  home.  The  very  first  view 
of  her  countenance,  and  its  expression,  so  full  of  kindness 
and  sincerity,  was  sufficient  for  me.  I  liked  her  im 
mediately,  and  the  short  conversation  I  had  with  her 
sufficed  to  strengthen  the  impression  of  the  first  glance. 
She  is  evidently  one  of  the  intelligent,  kind  and  motherly 
women  of  the  earth ;  she  has,  it  is  true,  a  little  weakness 

VOL.  I.  T 


274  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

towards  literary  endowments  and  literary  people,  but  I, 
for  my  part,  consider  this  quite  amiable  in  her.  She  is 
about  my  own  age,  and  might,  from  her  appearance,  be  a 
Swede.  The  blue  eyes,  the  round  fresh  countenance,  the 
plump  figure,  as  well  as  the  charming  good  nature  in 
speech  and  manner,  are  so  like  our  Swedish  ladies.  She 
is  indeed  of  Scandinavian  descent ;  her  father  was  Danish 
—  by  name,  Monefelt.  Of  the  other  members  of  the 
family  I  saw  three  pretty  girls ;  the  eldest  seventeen,  the 
youngest  nine  years  old,  and  a  handsome  lad  of  ten. 
Mr.  W.  H.,  two  elder  sons,  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
family,  are  now  from  home. 

I  have  seen  also  another  agreeable  family,  that  of 
Dr.  G.,  whose  wife,  son-in-law,  and  daughters,  have  called 
on  me,  and  offered  to  take  me  to  the  islands  and  the 
beautiful  places  in  the  neighbourhood. 

I  have  likewise  seen  to-day  Mrs.  Harnmarskold  (Emilie 
Holmberg)  and  her  mother.  Tears  of  longing  for 
Sweden  filled  the  eyes  of  the  old  lady.  The  younger 
lady  is  a  much  esteemed  teacher  of  music  here. 

I  can  now  write  no  more,  the  post  is  leaving. 

God  bless  my  sweet  Agatha  ! 


LETTER  XIII. 

CHARLESTON,  April  12$,  1850. 

I  SEE  a  feeble  Southern  beauty  reposing  upon  a 
luxurious  bed  of  flowers  in  a  nectarine  grove,  surrounded 
by  willing  slaves,  who  at  her  nod  bring  to  her  the  most 
precious  fruits  and  ornaments  in  the  world.  But  all  her 
beaut}r,  the  splendour  of  her  eye,  the  delicate  crimson  of 
her  cheek,  the  pomp  which  surrounds  her  couch,  cannot 
conceal  the  want  of  health  and  vigour,  the  worm  winch 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  275 

devours  her  vitals.  This  weak,  luxurious  beauty  is — 
South  Carolina. 

And  after  all,  my  Agatha,  she  is  beautiful.  I  have 
inexpressibly  enjoyed  her  peculiar  charm,  so  delightful, 
so  rich,  and  to  rne  so  novel. 

I  have  been  fourteen  clays  here,  and  although  the 
weather  for  the  most  part  has  been  rainy,  and  is  so  still, 
yet  there  have  been  days  when  I  have  wished  that  all 
feeble,  ailing  humanity,  (and  you  my  Agatha  above  all,) 
could  remove  hither,  breathe  this  air,  see  this  exquisite 
pomp  of  heaven  and  earth,  which  must  invigorate  them 
like  a  balsam  of  life,  and  enjoy  life  anew.  I  can  under 
stand  how  the  mariners  who  first  approached  these  shores, 
and  felt  these  gentle  breezes,  this  atmosphere,  believed 
that  they  were  drinking  an  elixir  of  life,  and  hoped  to  find 
here  the  fountain  of  perpetual  youth. 

During  these  delicious  days  I  have  made  some  excur 
sions  into  the  country,  round  the  city,  with  Mrs.  H.,  and 
some  kind  acquaintance.  In  all  directions,  after  we  had 
ploughed  through  an  extent  of  deep  sand — but  they 
are  now  beginning  everywhere  to  form,  wooden  roads, 
which  are  very  excellent  to  drive  upon — we  arrived  at 
forest.  And  the  forest  here  is  a  sort  of  paradisaical 
wilderness,  or  abounding  with  many  kinds  of  trees  and 
plants  which  I  never  before  heard  of  or  saw.  Nothing 
is  studied  or  trimmed,  but  everything  grows  in  wild 
luxuriant  disorder :  myrtles  and  fir-trees,  magnolias  and 
cypresses,  elms  and  oaks,  and  a  great  many  foreign  trees, 
the  names  of  which  I  do  not  know.  The  most  magnificent 
and  the  most  abundant  of  all  trees  here  is  the  live-oak, 
an  evergreen,  an  immense  tree,  from  the  branches  of  which 
depending  masses  of  moss,  often  three  or  four  yards  in 
length,  (the  Tillandsia  Umvides)  hung  down  in  heavy 
draperies.  These  pendant  grey  masses  upon  the  heavy 
branches  produce  the  most  unimaginably  picturesque 
effect,  and  when  these  trees  have  been  planted  with  any 

T2 


276  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

regularity  they  form  the  most  magnificent  natural  Gothic 
churches  with  arcades  and  lofty  vaulted  aisles.  Beneath 
these  long-hranched  patriarchs  of  the  forest  flourish  a 
number  of  lesser  trees,  shrubs,  plants,  and  climbing 
vegetation,  especially  the  wild  vine,  which  fill  the  wood 
with  perfume,  and  make  a  beautiful  show  in  the  hedges, 
and  up  aloft  in  the  trees,  whence  they  fling  down  their 
wild  blossoming  branches.  Thus,  with  the  wild  yellow 
jasmine,  which  was  here  and  there  yet  in  flower ;  thus  with 
the  white  Cherokee  rose,  which  also  grows  wild,  and  in 
the  greatest  abundance ;  thus,  with  many  other  showy 
creeping  plants,  which  on  all  sides  twine  around  the  boles 
of  the  trees,  and  many  of  which  are  said  to  be  poisonous. 
(And  many  poisonous  things,  both  of  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  are  said  to  be  in  these  wildernesses.)  The  magnolia 
is  one  of  the  most  glorious  of  their  trees,  a  tall  green- 
leaved  laurel,  the  white  blossoms  which  are  said  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  flowers  of  the  South ;  but  it  does  however 
not  begin  to  flower  till  the  end  of  May. 

The  city  itself  is  now  in  full  bloom,  for  the  city  is  like 
a  great  assemblage  of  villas  standing  in  their  gardens, 
which  are  now  brilliant  with  roses  of  every  kind.  The 
fragrance  of  the  orange  blossom  fills  the  air,  and  the 
mocking-bird,  the  nightingale  of  North  America  (called 
by  the  Indians,  cenconttatolly ,  or  the  hundred-tongued, 
from  its  ability  to  imitate  every  kind  of  sound),  sings  in 
cages  in  the  open  windows,  or  outside  them.  I  have  not 
yet  heard  it  sing  when  free  in  the  woods.  The  nectarine 
and  the  fig-tree  have  already  set  their  fruit.  I  observed 
this  in  Mrs.  W.  H.'s  garden,  where  also  I  saw  the 
Carolina  humming-bird  flutter,  like  a  little  spirit,  among 
the  scarlet  honeysuckle  flowers,  sipping  their  honey  as  it 
flew.  That  is  something  particular,  and  very  beautiful, 
my  little  Agatha,  and  I  am  fortunate  in  being  here. 

I  have  received  many  kind  visits  and  invitations,  and 
first  among  the  former  let  me  mention  that  which  is 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  277 

most  to  my  taste,  and  to  which  I  owe  some  of  my  most 
beautiful  hours  in  the  New  "World.  You  know  my  faculty 
of  receiving  decided  impressions  as  regards  persons,  and 
of  my  coming  into  rapport  with  them  almost  at  the  first 
moment.  This  faculty  or  power,  which  has  never  yet 
deceived  me,  has  become  more  keen  since  I  went  abroad 
on  my  Viking  expedition,  quite  alone,  and  have  thereby 
been  brought  into  immediate  connection  with  a  great 
number  of  persons.  I  have,  of  late  in  particular,  acquired 
a  sort  of  mercurial  sensitiveness  to  the  various  tempera 
ments  and  natures  which  approach  me,  and  the  barometer 
of  my  feelings  rises  or  falls  accordingly.  Thus  as  I  liked 
Mrs.  W.  H.  from  the  first  moment,  did  I  like — but  in 
another  way — Mrs.  Holbrook,  the  wife  of  the  Professor 
of  Natural  History,  from  the  first  moment  when  I  saw 
and  heard  her.  I  became  animated,  and  as  it  were 
awakened,  by  the  fresh  intelligent  life  which  spoke  in  that 
lovely,  animated  woman.  There  is  nothing  common 
place,  nothing  conventional  in  her.  Everything  is  clear, 
peculiar,  living,  and  above  all,  good.  I  felt  it  like  a 
draught  of  the  very  elixir  of  life — the  very  fountain  of 
youth.  The  next  day  I  dined  with  Mrs.  W.  H.,  at  her 
beautiful,  elegant  residence,  the  sea-breezes  coming  in 
refreshingly  through  the  curtains  of  the  windows.  Her 
mother,  Mrs.  R.,  a  beautiful  old  lady,  with  splendid 
eyes ;  her  sister,  Miss  Lucas  K. ;  three  ideally  lovely  and 
charming  young  girls,  her  nieces ;  and  three  very  agreeable 
gentlemen,  composed  the  party.  Mr.  Holbrook  is,  together 
with  Aggassiz,  the  Swiss,  now  on  a  natural  history  expedi 
tion  to  the  great  fens  of  Florida,  called  the  Ever  Glades. 

After  an  excellent  dinner  we  drove  to  the  battery,  the 
fashionable  promenade  of  the  city,  and  which  consists  of 
a  bald  inclosure  along  the  beach,  where  people  walk 
round  and  round  in  a  circle,  so  that  they  see  again  and 
again  all  those  they  know,  and  all  those  they  do  not  know, 
who  are  promenading  there,  a  thing  that  I  should  have 


278  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

nothing  to  do  with  beyond  at  most  once  a-year,  not  even 
to  breathe  the  very  best  sea-air.  Neither  did  this  sort  of 
promenade  seem  particularly  to  Mrs.  Holbrook's  taste; 
but  the  people  of  the  New  World,  in  general,  are  fond  of 
being  in  company,  are  fond  of  a  crowd. 

After  an  excellent  tea,  Mrs.  Holbrook  drove  me  home. 
And  that  was  one  day  of  fashionable  life  at  Charleston ; 
and  it  was  very  good.  But  better  still,  was  another  day 
spent  in  the  country,  alone  with  her  at  her  country-seat, 
Belmont,  some  miles  out  of  town. 

She  came  about  noon  and  fetched  me  in  a  little  carriage. 
We  were  alone,  we  two,  the  whole  day ;  we  wandered  in 
myrtle-groves — we  botanised — we  read ;  Mrs.  H.  made 
me  acquainted  with  the  English  poet,  Keats ;  and  above 
all,  we  talked ;  and  the  day  passed  like  a  golden  dream, 
or  like  the  most  beautiful  reality.  You  know  how  easily 
I  get  wearied  with  talk,  how  painful  to  me  is  the  effort 
which  it  requires.  But  now  I  talked  for  a  whole  day  with 
the  same  person,  and  I  was  not  conscious  either  of  effort 
or  of  fatigue.  It  was  delicious  and  amusing,  amusing, 
amusing !  The  air  itself  was  a  delicious  enjoyment. 
Mrs.  Holbrook  was  like  a  perpetually  fresh-welling  foun 
tain,  and  every  subject  which  she  touched  upon  became 
interesting,  either  from  her  remarks  upon  it,  or  from  the 
views  which  her  conversation  unfolded.  Thus  we  flew 
together  over  the  whole  world,  not  always  agreeing,  but 
always  maintaining  the  best  understanding :  and  that  day, 
in  the  fragrant  myrtle -groves  of  Belmont,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ashley  river,  is  one  of  my  most  beautiful  days  in  the 
New  World,  and  one  which  I  shall  never  forget.  Now  I 
became  acquainted,  for  the  first  time,  with  the  amber-tree, 
and  several  other  trees  and  plants,  whose  names  and 
properties  Mrs.  H.  mentioned  to  me.  Natural  science 
has  extended  her  glance  over  the  life  of  the  world,  with 
out  diverting  it  from  the  religious  and  heavenly  life. 
For  her  the  earth  is  a  poem,  which  in  its  various  forms 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  279 

testifies  of  its  Poet  and  its  Creator ;  but  the  highest 
evidence  of  Him  she  derives,  not  from  the  natural  life,  but 
from  a  still,  lofty  figure,  which  once  advanced  from  the 
shadows  of  life  before  her  glance,  and  made  life  for  her 
light  and  great,  connecting  time  and  eternity.  Mrs.  H. 
is  a  platonic  thinker,  who  can  see  (which  is  rare  in  this 
world)  system  in  all  things,  and  dissimilar  radii  having  all 
relationship  to  one  common  centre.  I  spoke  freely  to 
her  of  what  I  considered  the  great  want  in  the  female 
education  of  this  country, — and  of  all  countries.  Women 
acquire  many  kinds  of  knowledge,  but  there  is  no  system- 
atising  of  it.  A  deal  of  latin,  a  deal  of  mathematics, 
much  knowledge  of  the  physical  sciences,  &c.,  but  there  is 
no  philosophical  centralisation  of  this,  no  application  of  the 
life  in  this  to  life  itself,  and  no  opportunity  afforded  after 
leaving  school  of  applying  all  this  scientific  knowledge  to 
a  living  purpose.  Hence  it  falls  away  out  of  the  soul,  like 
flowers  that  have  no  root,  or  as  leaves  plucked  from  the 
branches  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  when  the  young  disciple 
goes  from  school  into  life.  Or  if  they  do  remember  what 
they  have  learned,  it  is  but  merely  remembered  work,  and 
does  not  enter  as  sap  and  vegetative  power  into  the  life 
itself.  That  which  is  wanting  in  school-learning,  in  the 
great  as  in  the  small,  is  a  little  Platonic  philosophy. 

On  other  subjects  we  did  not  fully  agree;  my  imagi 
nation  could  not  always  accompany  the  flights  of  my 
friend.  But  the  charm  in  Mrs.  H.  is  that  she  has  genius, 
and  she  says  new  and  startling  things,  in  particular  as 
regard  the  life  and  correspondence  of  nature  and  of  the 
spirit. 

When  the  sun  sank  in  the  waters  of  the  river  this 
beautiful  day  came  to  an  end,  and  we  returned  to  the  city. 
But  I  must  go  again  to  Belmont,  and  spend  a  few  days 
there  with  its  good  genius ;  so  it  is  said — but  I  know 
not  whether  I  shall  have  the  time. 

Mrs.  H.  belongs  to  the  aristocratic  world  of  Charleston, 


280  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  to  one  of  its  noblest  families,  the  Kutleges,  but  is 
universally  acknowledged  as  one  of  "  the  most  intellectual 
and  charming  women,"  and  is  spoken  of  as  "  above 
fashion ; "  and  how  could  such  a  spirit  be  trammeled  by 
fashion  ? 

She  has,  however,  one  twist,  but  that  is  universal  here, 
and  it  belongs  to  the  slave  states. 

South  Carolina  is  generally  called  the  Palmetto  State. 
I  expected  to  have  seen  everywhere  this  half-tropical 
species  of  tree.  I  was  quite  annoyed  not  to  see,  either  in 
or  out  of  Charleston,  any  palmettos.  They  have  been,  in 
a  Vandal-like  manner,  cut  down  for  piles,  and  for  ship 
building,  because  this  timber  is  impenetrable  to  water.  At 
length,  however,  a  few  days  ago,  I  saw  this  States-tree  of 
Carolina  (for  the  State  bears  a  palmetto-tree  on  its  banner) 
on  Sullivan's  Island,  a  large  sand-bank  in  the  sea,  outside 
Charleston,  where  the  citizens  have  country-houses  for 
the  enjoyment  of  sea-air  and  sea-bathing;  and  there  in 
various  gardens  we  may  yet  see  clumps  of  palmettos. 
Imagine  to  yourself  a  straight  round  stem,  slightly  knotted 
at  the  joints,  from  the  top  of  which  large,  green,  waving 
fans,  with  finger-like  divisions,  branch  forth  on  all  sides 
upon  long  stalks,  and  you  have  an  image  of  the  palmetto, 
the  representative  of  the  palm.  I  was  invited  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gilman.  to  a  pic-nic  on  Sullivan's  Island.  Pic-nics 
are  here  the  current  name  for  excursions  into  the  country, 
where  they  go  to  eat,  and  to  enjoy  themselves  in  a  merry 
company.  These  parties  are  very  much  liked,  especially 
by  the  young  people ;  and  many  a  tender,  serious  union, 
looks  back  for  its  commencement  to  a  merry  pic-nic. 
That  at  which  I  was  now  present  was  a  large  party,  nor 
was  there  any  lack  of  young  people,  nor  yet  of  young 
enamoured  pairs ;  but  the  day  was  cool,  and  I  felt  it  to 
be  rather  laborious  than  agreeable,  which  is  often  the 
case  with  me  on  so-called  parties  of  pleasure.  But  I 
really  did  enjoy  a  drive  with  Mrs.  Oilman  on  the  beach, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  281 

along  the  firm  fine  sands,  whilst  the  waves  came  rolling 
in,  thundering  and  foaming  even  to  the  horses'  feet. 
There  was  a  wild  freshness  in  this  scene,  whilst  the  air 
was  of  the  mildest  and  most  delicious  character.  How 
romantic  is  "  nature,"  and  how  rich  in  picturesque  con 
trasts  !  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oilman  are  of  the  poetical 
temperament ;  she  has  sung  the  beauty  of  quiet  and  pious 
life;  he  the  subjects  connected  with  his  native  land.  His 
splendid  song, — 

"  Fathers,  have  ye  bled  in  vain  !  " 

written  from  fervent  inspiration  at  a  time  when  the  disso 
lution  of  the  Union  was  threatened  by  the  bitterness  of 
party  strife,  has  been  sung  with  rapture  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  perhaps  may  have  contributed  more 
to  arouse  the  public  spirit  of  fellow-citizenship  than  any 
governmental  measure  which  is  said  to  have  saved  "  the 
Union."  Mr.  Oilman  is  a  highly  esteemed  and  beloved 
minister  of  Charleston,  a  handsome  elderly  man,  whose 
inward  earnestness  and  nobility  are  faithfully  reflected 
in  his  exterior. 

Last  evening  I  was  at  a  wedding,  that  is  to  say,  I  was 
invited  to  witness  the  marriage  ceremony  in  the  church. 
It  was  between  a  Catholic  and  a  member  of  the  English 
Episcopalian  church ;  and  they  had  agreed  to  select  the 
minister  of  the  Unitarian  congregation  of  Charleston, 
Mr.  Oilman,  to  unite  them.  Only  the  relatives  and 
friends  of  the  bridal  pair  were  to  be  present  at  the  cere 
mony,  which  took  place  in  the  evening  by  lamp -light. 
The  bride  was  lovely  as  a  new-blown  white  rose,  small 
and  delicate,  dressed  in  white,  and  with  a  very  pretty 
garland  and  veil.  The  bridegroom  was  a  tall  and  thin 
gentleman ;  not  handsome,  but  had  the  look  of  a  good, 
respectable  man,  is  very  rich,  and  desperately  in  love  with 
his  white  rcse-bud.  Their  bridal  tour  is  to  be  a  pleasure 
trip  to  Europe.  After  the  marriage  ceremony,  which  was 


282  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

worthily  and  beautifully  performed  by  Mr.  Gilman,  the 
company  rose  from  their  seats  and  congratulated  the 
bridal  pair.  A  fat  old  negro-woman  sate,  like  a  horrid 
spectre,  black  and  silent  by  the  altar.  This  was  the 
nurse  and  foster-mother  of  the  bride,  and  who  could  not 
bear  the  thought  of  parting  with  her.  This  parting,  how 
ever,  is  only  for  the  time  of  their  journey,  as  these  black 
nurses  are  cared  for  with  great  tenderness  as  long  as  they 
live  in  the  white  families,  and  generally  speaking  they 
deserve  it  from  their  affection  and  fidelity. 

You  may  believe  that  there  has  not  failed  to  be  here 
conversations  about  slavery.  I  do  not  originate  them, 
but  when  they  occur,  which  they  frequently  do,  I  express 
my  sentiments  candidly  but  as  inoffensively  as  may  be. 
One  thing,  however,  which  astonishes  and  annoys  me 
here,  and  which  I  did  not  expect  to  find,  is  that  I  scarcely 
ever  meet  with  a  man,  or  woman  either,  who  can  openly 
and  honestly  look  the  thing  in  the  face.  They  wind  and 
turn  about  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  make  use  of  every 
argument — sometimes  the  most  opposite,  to  convince  me 
that  the  slaves  are  the  happiest  people  in  the  world,  and 
do  not  wish  to  be  placed  in  any  other  condition,  or  in  any 
other  relationship  to  their  masters  than  that  in  which 
they  now  find  themselves.  This  in  many  cases,  and 
under  certain  circumstances,  is  true ;  and  it  occurs  more 
frequently  than  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  have 
any  idea  of.  But  there  is  such  an  abundance  of  unfortu 
nate  cases,  and  always  must  be  in  this  system,  as  to 
render  it  detestable. 

I  have  had  a  few  conversations  on  the  subject,  some 
thing  in  the  following  style  :— 

Southerner.  —  "Report   says,   Miss  Bremer,   that  you 
belong  to  the  abolitionist  party  ?  " 

Myself. — "  Yes,  certainly,  I  do ;  but  so,  doubtlessly,  do 
we  both;  you  as  well  as  I." 

Southerner  is  silent. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  283 

Myself. — "  I  am  certain  that  you,  as  well  as  I,  wish 
freedom  and  happiness  to  the  human  race." 

Southerner. — "  Y — y — ye — e — e — e— s  !  but— but— 

And  now  come  many  buts,  which  are  to  prove  the  difficulty 
and  the  impossibility  of  the  liberation  of  the  negro  race. 
That  there  is  difficulty  I  am  willing  to  concede,  but  not 
impossibility.  This,  however,  is  clear,  that  there  requires 
a  preparation  for  freedom,  and  that  this  has  been  long 
neglected.  There  is  here,  in  Charleston,  a  noble  man 
who  thinks  as  I  do  on  the  matter,  and  who  labours  in  this 
the  only  true  direction  and  preparation  for  this  freedom, 
namely,  the  negroes'  initiation  into  Christianity.  Formerly 
their  instruction  was  shamefully  neglected,  or  rather 
opposed :  the  laws  of  the  State  forbidding  that  slaves 
should  be  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  long  opposing 
their  instruction,  even  in  Christianity.  But  better  times 
have  come,  and  seem  to  be  coming.  People  frequently, 
in  their  own  houses,  teach  their  slaves  to  read;  and 
missionaries,  generally  methodists,  go  about  the  planta 
tions  preaching  the  Gospel. 

But  the  onesidedness  and  the  obstinate  blindness  of 
the  educated  class  in  this  city,  really  astonish  and 
vex  me.  And  women,  women,  in  whose  moral  sense  of 
right,  and  in  whose  inborn  feeling  for  the  true  an'd  the 
good,  I  have  so  much  faith  and  hope — women  grieve  me 
by  being  so  shortsighted  on  this  subject,  and  by  being 
still  more  irritable  and  violent  than  the  men.  And  yet  it 
is  women,  who  ought  to  be  most  deeply  wounded  by  the 
immorality  and  the  impurity  of  the  institution  !  Does  it 
not  make  a  family  a  non-entity  ?  Does  it  not  separate 
husband  and  wife,  mother  and  child?  It  strikes  me 
daily  with  a  sort  of  amazement  when  I  see  the  little  negro 
children,  and  think — "  These  children  do  not  belong  to 
their  parents ;  their  mother,  who  brought  them  into  the 
world  with  Suffering,  who  nourished  them  at  her  breast, 
who  watched  over  them,  she  whose  flesh  and  blood  they 


284  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

are,  has  no  right  over  them.  They  are  not  hers ;  they  are 
the  property  of  her  possessor,  of  the  person  who  hought 
her,  and  with  her  all  the  children  she  may  have,  with  his 
money ;  and  who  can  sell  them  away  whenever  he  pleases." 
Wonderful  1 

The  moral  feeling,  it  is  said,  is  becoming  more  and 
more  opposed  to  the  separation  of  families  and  of  little 
children  from  their  mothers  hy  sale ;  and  that  it  now  no 
longer  takes  place  at  the  public  slave -auctions.  But  one 
hears  in  the  Northern,  as  well  as  in  the  Southern  States, 
of  circumstances  which  prove  what  heart-breaking  occur 
rences  take  place  in  consequence  of  their  separation, 
which  the  effects  of  the  system  render  unavoidable,  and 
which  the  best  slaveholders  cannot  always  prevent. 

The  house-slaves  here  seem,  in  general,  to  be  very  well 
treated ;  and  I  have  been  in  houses  where  their  rooms, 
and  all  that  appertains  to  them  (for  every  servant,  male 
or  female,  has  their  own  excellent  room),  are  much  better 
than  those  which  are  provided  for  the  free  servants  of  our 
country.  The  relationship  between  the  servant  and  the 
employer  seems  also,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  good  and 
heartfelt ;  the  older  servants  especially  seem  to  stand  in 
that  affectionate  relationship  to  the  family  which  charac 
terises  a  patriarchal  condition,  and  which  it  is  so  beautiful 
to  witness  in  our  good  families  between  servant  and 
employer ;  at  the  same  time  with  this  great  difference,  that 
with  us  the  relationship  is  the  free-will  attachment  of 
one  rational  being  to  another.  Here  also  may  often 
occur  this  free-will  attachment,  but  it  is  then  a  conquest 
over  slavery,  and  that  slavish  relationship,  and  I  fancy 
that  here  nobody  knows  exactly  how  it  is.  True 
it  is,  in  the  meantime,  that  the  negro  race  has  a  strong 
instinct  of  devotion  and  veneration,  and  this  may  be 
seen  by  the  people's  eyes,  which  have  a  peculiar,  kind, 
faithful,  and  affectionate  expression,  which  I  like,  and 
which  reminds  me  of  that  beautiful  expression  in  the  eye 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  285 

of  the  dog :  true  is  it  also,  that  they  have  a  natural 
tendency  to  subordination  to  the  white  race,  and  to 
obey  their  higher  intelligence;  and  white  mothers  and 
black  nurses  prove  continually  the  exclusive  love  of  the 
latter  for  the  child  of  the  white.  No  better  foster- 
toaothers,  no  better  nurses,  can  any  one  have  for  their 
children,  than  the  black  woman ;  and  in  general  no  better 
sick  nurses  than  the  blacks,  either  male  or  female.  They 
are  naturally  good-tempered  and  attached ;  and  if  the 
white  "  Massa  "  and  "  Missis,"  as  the  negroes  call  their 
owners,  are  kind  on  their  part,  the  relationship  between 
them  and  "  Daddy  "  and  "  Mammy,"  as  the  black  servants 
are  called,  especially  if  they  are  somewhat  in  years,  is  really 
good  and  tender.  But  neither  are  circumstances  of  quite 
the  opposite  kind  wanting.  The  tribunals  of  Carolina, 
and  the  better  class  of  the  community  of  Carolina,  have 
yet  fresh  in  their  memory,  deeds  of  cruelty  done  to  house- 
slaves  which  rival  the  worst  abominations  of  the  old 
heathen  times.  Some  of  the  very  blackest  of  these  deeds 

have  been  done  by women ;  by  women  in  the  higher 

class  of  society  in  Charleston  !  Just  lately,  also,  has  a 
rich  planter  been  condemned  to  two  years'  imprisonment 
in  the  house  of  correction,  for  his  barbarous  treatment  of 
a  slave.  And  then  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
public  tribunal  does  not  take  cognisance  of  any  other 
cruelties  to  slaves,  than  those  which  are  too  horrible  and 
too  public  to  be  passed  over  !  When  I  bring  forward 
these  universally-known  circumstances  in  my  arguments 
with  the  patrons  and  patronesses  of  slavery,  they  reply, 
"  Even  in  your  country,  and  in  all  countries,  are  masters 
and  mistresses  sometimes  austere  to  their  servants."  To 
which  I  reply,  "  But  then  they  can  leave  them !  "  And  to 
this  they  have  nothing  to  say,  but  look  displeased. 

Ah!  the  curse  of  slavery,  as  the  common  phrase  is, 
has  not  merely  fallen  upon  the  black,  but,  perhaps,  at 
this  moment,  still  more  upon  the  white,  because  it  has 


286  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

warped  his  sense  of  truth,  and  has  degraded  his  moral 
nature. 

The  position  and  the  treatment  of  the  hlacks,  however, 
really  improve  from  year  to  year.  The  whites,  neverthe 
less,  do  not  seem  to  advance  in  enlightenment.  But — I 
will  see  and  hear  more  before  I  condemn  them.  Perhaps 
the  lover  of  darkness  has  established  himself  principally  in 
Charleston.  "  Charleston  is  an  owl's  nest !  "  said  a  witty 
Carolina  lady  to  me  one  day. 

I  must  now  tell  you  something  about  the  home  in  which 
I  am,  and  in  which  I  find  myself  so  well  off,  and  so  happy, 
that  I  would  not  wish  for  a  better.  The  house  with  its 
noble  garden  stands  alone  in  one  of  the  most  rural  streets 
of  the  city,  Lynch-street,  and  has  on  one  side  a  free  view 
of  the  country  and  the  river,  so  that  it  enjoys  the  most 
delicious  air — the  freshest  breezes.  Lovely  sprays  of 
white  roses,  and  of  the  scarlet  honeysuckle,  fling  them 
selves  over  the  piazza,  and  form  the  most  exquisite 
verandah.  Here  I  often  walk,  especially  in  the  early 
morning  and  in  the  evening,  inhaling  the  delicious  air, 
and  looking  abroad  over  the  country.  My  room,  my 
pretty  airy  room,  is  in  the  upper  story.  The  principal 
apartments  which  are  on  the  first  story  open  upon  the 
piazza,  where  people  assemble  or  walk  about  in  the 
evening,  when  there  is  generally  company. 

You  are  a  little  acquainted  with  Mrs.  W.  H.  already, 
but  no  one  can  rightly  know  her,  or  value  her,  until  they 
have  seen  her  in  daily  life,  within  her  own  home.  She  is 
there  more  like  a  Swedish  lady  than  any  woman  I  have 
met  with  in  this  country,  for  she  has  that  quiet,  attentive, 
affectionate,  motherly  demeanour;  always  finding  some 
thing  to  do,  and  not  being  above  doing  it  with  her  own 
hands.  (In  the  slave  states  people  commonly  consider 
coarse  work  as  somewhat  derogatory,  and  leave  it  to  be 
done  by  slaves.)  Thus  I  see  her  quietly  busied  from 
morning  till  evening ;  now  with  the  children,  now  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  287 

meals,  when  she  assists  her  servants  to  arrange  the  table ; 
or  when  meals  are  over  and  removed,  and  all  is  in  order 
which  needs  looking  after,  (for  the  negroes  are  naturally 
careless,)  she  will  be  busy  cutting  out  and  making  clothes 
for  them,  or  in  dressing  and  smartening  up  the  little 
negroes  of  the  house  ;  then  she  is  in  the  garden,  planting 
flowers  or  tying  up  one  that  has  fallen  down,  training  and 
bringing  into  order  the  wild  shoots  of  trailing  plants ;  or 
she  is  receiving  guests,  sending  off  messengers,  &c.,  and 
all  this  with  that  calm  comprehension,  with  that  dignity, 
which  at  the  same  time  is  so  full  of  kindness,  and  which 
is  so  beautiful  in  the  mistress  of  a  family,  which  makes 
her  bear  the  whole  house,  and  be  its  stay  as  well  as  its 

ornament.     In  the  evening,  in  particular but  I  will 

give  you  a  circumstantial  history  of  my  day. 

Early  in  the  morning  comes  Lettis,  the  black-brown 
servant,  and  brings  me  a  cup  of  coffee.  An  hour  after 
wards  little  Willie  knocks  at  my  door,  and  takes  me  down 
to  breakfast,  leaning  on  my  little  cavalier's  shoulder, — 
sometimes  I  am  conducted  both  by  him  and  Laura, — to 
the  lowest  story,  where  is  the  eating-room.  There  when 
the  family  is  assembled,  good  Mrs.  Rowland  dispenses 
tea  and  coffee  and  many  good  things,  for  here,  as  in  the 
North,  the  breakfasts  are  only  too  abundant.  One  of  the 
principal  dishes  here  is  rice  (the  principal  product  of 
Carolina)  boiled  in  water  in  such  a  manner  as  to  swell  the 
grains  considerably,  yet  still  are  they  soft,  and  eat  very 
pulpy.  I  always  eat  from  this  dish  of  rice  at  breakfast, 
because  I  know  it  to  be  very  wholesome.  People 
generally  eat  it  with  fresh  butter,  and  many  mix  with  it 
also  a  soft-boiled  egg.  For  the  rest  they  have  boiled  meat 
and  fish  :  sweet  potatoes,  hommony,  maize-bread,  eggs, 
milk  cooled  with  ice ;  all  which  are  really  a  superabundance 
of  good  things.  During  the  whole  meal-time  one  of  the 
black  boys  or  girls  stands  with  a  besom  of  peacocks' 
feathers  to  drive  away  the  flies. 


288  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

After  breakfast  all  go  out  on  the  piazza  for  a  little  while, 
the  children  leap  about  and  chase  one  another  through 
the  garden,  and  it  is  a  delight  to  see  the  graceful  Sarah, 
now  thirteen,  leap  about,  brilliant  with  the  freshness  of 
youth  and  joy,  and  light  as  a  young  roe,  with  her  plaits 
of  hair  and  her  ribbons  flying  in  the  wind.  She  is  a 
most  charming  creature.  The  elder  sister,  Illione,  is 
also  a  pretty  girl,  with  something  excellent,  grave  and 
demure  in  her  demeanour  and  manner.  Willie  has 
beautiful  eyes  and  brown  curls,  and  Laura  is  a  little  rose 
bud.  Two  little  black  negro-girls,  Georgia  and  Attila,  the 
children  of  Lettis,  jump  and  leap  about  in  the  house,  and 
on  the  steps,  as  quick  and  dexterous  as  one  might  fancy 
black  elves. 

After  breakfast  I  go  into  my  own  room  and  remain  there 
quite  undisturbed  the  whole  forenoon.  At  twelve  o'clock 
Mrs.  W.  H.  sends  me  up  a  second  breakfast,  bread  and 
butter,  a  glass  of  iced  milk,  oranges  and  bananas.  You 
see  my  dear  heart,  I  am  not  likely  to  suffer  from  hunger. 
At  three  o'clock  they  dine,  and  there  may  be  a  guest  or 
two  to  dinner.  In  the  afternoon  my  good  hostess  takes 
me  out  somewhere,  which  is  in  every  way  agreeable 
to  me. 

The  evening  is  nevertheless  the  flower  of  the  day  in 
this  family,  (ah,  in  how  many  families  is  the  evening 
the  heaviest  part  of  the  day !)  Then  the  lamps  are 
lighted  in  the  beautiful  drawing-rooms ;  and  all  are 
summoned  to  tea.  Then  is  Mrs.  W.  H.,  kind,  and  fat, 
and  good,  seated  on  the  sofa  with  the  great  tea-table 
before  her,  loaded  with  good  things  ;  then  small  tea-tables 
are  placed  about,  (I  always  have  my  own  little  table  to 
myself  near  the  sofa,)  and  the  lively  little  negro-boy,  Sam, 
(Mrs.  W.  H.'s  great  favourite)  carries  round  the  refresh 
ments.  Then  come  in,  almost  always,  three  or  four 
young  lads,  sons  of  neighbouring  friends  of  the  family, 
and  a  couple  of  young  girls  also,  and  the  young  people 


HOLIES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  289 

dance  gaily  and  gracefully  to  the  piano,  in  all  simplicity 
and  good  faith.  The  children  of  the  house  are  amiable 
with  one  another,  they  are  very  fond  of  one  another,  and 
dance  together  as  we  used  to  do  in  the  evenings  at  home. 
But  they  are  happier  than  we  were.  I  generally  play 
an  hour  for  them,  either  waltzes  or  quadrilles.  Strangers, 
in  the  mean  time,  call  and  take  their  leave. 

Later,  people  go  out  on  the  piazza,  where  they  walk 
about,  or  sit  and  talk,  but  I  prefer  rather  quietly  to  enjoy 
the  fragrant  night-air,  and  to  glance  through  the  open 
doors  into  the  room  where  the  handsome  children  are 
skipping  about  in  the  joy  of  youth,  Sarah  always  ideally 
lovely  and  graceful,  and — without  knowing  it. 

Mr.  M.,  the  brother  of  Mrs.  W.  H.,  and  the  gentle 
man  who  came  to  fetch  me  the  first  morning,  is  a  guest 
here  every  evening  ;  he  is  a  man  of  great  conversational 
powers,  and  tells  a  story  remarkably  well. 

But  with  none  of  them  am  I  so  much  at  home  as  with 
my  good  sensible  hostess.  And  I  cannot  describe  how 
excellently  kind  she  is  to  me. 

April  \2>th. — We  had  last  evening  a  great  storm  of 
thunder  and  lightning,  such  as  I  have  never  seen  in 
Europe,  although  I  remember  one  June  night  last  year, 
in  Denmark,  at  Soro,  when  the  whole  atmosphere  was  as 
it  were  in  bright  flame.  But  here  the  flashes  of  lightning 
were  like  glowing  streams  of  lava,  and  the  thunder- claps 
instantly  succeeded  them.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I 
felt  a  little  frightened  at  a  thunder-storm.  And  yet  I 
enjoyed  the  wild  scene. 

In  a  couple  of  days  I  shall  go  hence  on  a  visit  to 
Mr.  Poinsett,  the  late  Minister  of  War  for  the  United  States, 
as  well  as  their  Ambassador  to  Mexico,  and  who  now 
lives  as  a  private  man  on  his  own  plantation.  He  must 
be  an  unusually  interesting  and  amiable  man,  has  seen  a 
great  deal  of  life  and  of  the  world,  and  I  am  therefore 
glad  to  receive  an  invitation  to  his  house  near  George 

VOL.  i.  u 


290  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Town,  a  day's  journey  from  this  place.  I  have  to^  thank 
Mr.  Downing  for  this.  I  shall  spend  there  a  few  days, 
and  return  hither,  whence  I  shall  go  to  Georgia.  I  must 
make  good  use  of  the  time,  because  early  in  May  the 
heat  becomes  great  in  the  South,  and  then  all  the  planters 
remove  from  their  plantations  to  avoid  the  dangerous 
fevers  which  then  prevail.  During  the  summer  months 
it  is  said  that  a  night  spent  on  one  of  the  rice -plantations 
would  be  certain  death  to  a  white  man.  The  negroes  on 
the  contrary  suffer  little  or  nothing  from  the  climate. 

I  am  now  making  a  sketch,  from  an  oil  painting,  of  the 
portrait  of  a  great  Indian  chief,  by  name  Osconehola, 
who,  at  the  head  of  the  Seminole  tribe,  fought  bravely 
against  the  Americans  in  Florida,  who  wished  to  drive 
the  Indians  thence  and  send  them  westward  to  Arkansas. 
The  country  in  the  southern  parts,  which  was  possessed  by 
the  tribes  of  the  Seminole  and  Creek  Indians,  and  where 
they  were  continually  an  annoyance  to  white  settlers, 
produces  as  its  more  general  wood  a  tree  which  is  called 
light-wood,  from  the  gumminess  of  its  timber,  which 
quickly  kindles  and  burns  with  a  bright  flame.  It  is  not 
of  a  large  size,  and  is  easy  to  fell.  The  Arkansas,  on  the 
Western  side  of  the  Mississippi,  produces  for  the  most 
part  oak  forests,  bounded  by  the  wild  steppland  (Nebraska, 
the  principal  resort  of  the  Indians  at  this  time  in  North 
America),  and  has  a  severe  climate. 

Osconehola  therefore  replied  to  the  message  and  the 
threat  which  was  sent  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  in  these  words : — 

"  My  people  are  accustomed  to  the  warm  air  of  Florida, 
to  the  rivers  and  the  lakes  which  abound  in  fish  ;  to  the 
light-wood,  which  is  easy  to  fell,  and  which  burns  easily. 
They  cannot  live  in  that  cold  country  where  only  the  oak 
tree  grows.  The  people  cannot  fell  the  large  trees  ;  they 
will  perish  there  for  want  of  the  light- wood  !  " 

And  when  at  last  the  choice  was  given  him,  either  open 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  291 

war  with  the  United  States,  or  that  he  should  sign  the 
contract  which  banished  himself  and  his  people  from 
Florida,  he  struck  his  spear  through  it,  and  said, — 

"  I  defy  them  to  conquer  us  within  five  years !  " 

And  the  war  between  the  Florida  Indians  and  the  army 
of  the  United  States  continued  five  years;  much  blood 
was  shed  on  both  sides,  and  still  were  the  Indians  in 
possession  of  the  country,  and  would  perhaps  have  been 
so  still  had  not  Osconehola  been  taken  captive  through 
perfidy  and  deceit.  When  under  the  protection  of  the 
white  flag  he  came  to  have  a  talk  with  the  Spanish  General 
Hernandez.  The  treachery  was  indeed  the  Spaniards', 
but  still  it  appears  that  the  American  officers  were  neither 
ignorant  of  it  nor  yet  averse  to  it. 

Osconehola  was  taken  as  prisoner,  first  to  St.  Augustin, 
then  to  Charleston,  and  to  Fort  Moultrie,  on  Sullivan's 
Island.  From  this  moment  it  appeared  as  if  his  spirit 
was  broken.  Persons  who  visited  him  in  his  prison — 
Mr.  M.  was  among  these  —  says  that  he  never  saw  a 
glance  so  melancholy  and  gloomy.  He,  however,  never 
uttered  any  lamentation,  but  often  spoke  with  bitterness 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been  taken  prisoner,  and 
of  the  injustice  which  had  been  done  to  his  people  in 
forcing  them  from  their  native  soil  to  remove  to  a  northern 
land  where  no  light-wood  was  to  be  found  ! 

His  handsome  person,  his  melodious  voice,  his  large 
dark  eyes,  full  of  gloomy  fire,  his  bravery  and  his  fate, 
awoke  a  universal  interest  for  him,  and  the  ladies  in 
particular  felt  an  enthusiasm  for  the  handsome  Seminole 
chief,  visited  him  and  made  him  presents.  But  he  seemed 
indifferent  to  all ;  grew  more  and  more  silent,  and  from 
the  moment  when  he  was  put  in  prison,  his  health 
declined,  although  he  did  not  appear  to  be  ill.  He  ate 
but  very  little,  and  would  take  no  medicine.  It  was  evident 
that  he  wished  to  die.  The  captive  eagle  could  not  live 
deprived  of  the  free  life  and  air  of  his  forest. 

u  2 


292  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Two  of  his  wives,  one  young  and  handsome,  the  other 
old  and  ugly,  accompanied  him  into  captivity.  The  old 
one  waited  on  and  tended  him,  and  he  seemed  to  love  her 
most.  He  was  always  occupied  by  hut  one  thought — the 
certain  ruin  of  his  people  in  that  cold  land  where  there 
was  no  light-wood.  Embittered  and  silent,  he  wasted 
away  by  degrees,  and  died  one  month  after  his  arrival  at 
Fort  Moultrie,  died  because  he  could  not  live.  The  light- 
wood  in  his  life  was  consumed.  A  weeping  willow  droops 
over  the  white  marble  stone  which  covers  his  grave  outside 
the  wall  of  the  fortress  by  the  sea-shore. 

It  is  a  few  years  since  he  died,  and  his  life,  combat  and 
death,  are  an  abbreviated  history  of  the  fate  of  his  nation 
in  this  part  of  the  world.  For  this  reason,  and  also  for 
the  sake  of  the  expression  of  his  handsome  countenance, 
have  I  wished  to  make  a  sketch  of  his  portrait,  so  that 
you  may  see  it.  I  have  heard  him  spoken  of  here  by 
many  persons.  Otherwise,  I  have  not  just  now  a  weakness 
for  the  Indians,  notwithstanding  their  stern  virtues,  and 
beautiful  characters,  and  the  splendour  with  which 
novelists  have  loved  to  surround  them.  They  are 
extremely  cruel  in  their  wars  between  the  different  tribes, 
and  they  are  usually  severe  to  the  women,  whom  they 
treat  as  beasts  of  burden,  and  not  as  equals. 

CasaBianca,  April  IQth. — I  now  write  to  you,  my  sweet 
child,  from  a  hermitage  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river 
Pee  Dee.  It  is  a  solitary,  quiet  abode,  so  solitary  and 
quiet,  that  it  almost  astonishes  me  to  find  such  a  one  in 
this  lively  active  part  of  the  world,  and  among  these 
company-loving  people. 

A  fine  old  couple,  Mr.  Poinsett  and  his  lady,  who 
remind  me  of  Philemon  and  Baucis,  live  here  quite 
alone,  in  the  midst  of  negro  slaves,  rice -plantations,  and 
wild,  sandy,  forest  land.  There  is  not  a  single  white 
servant  in  the  house.  The  overseer  of  the  slaves,  who 
always  lives  near  the  slave -hamlet,  is  the  only  white  person 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  293 

I  have  seen  out  of  the  house.  Nevertheless  the  old  couple 
seem  to  me  to  live  as  safely  as  we  do  at  our  Arsta,  and  to 
be  about  as  little  careful  of  fastening  the  house-door  at 
night.  The  house  is  an  old  one  (N.B.,  for  this  young 
country),  with  antique  furniture,  and  rooms  testifying  of 
good  old-fashioned  aristocratic  taste  and  comfort. 

Bound  the  house  is  a  park,  or  garden,  rich  in  the  most 
beautiful  trees,  shrubs,  and  plants  of  the  country,  planted 
by  Mr.  Poinsett  himself,  according  to  Mr.Downing's  advice, 
and,  as  under  the  snow-covered  roof  at  Concord,  had  I  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  the  words,  "  Mr.  Downing  has  done 
much  for  this  country,"  so  universal  is  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Downing  here  in  the  improvement  of  taste,  and  the 
awakening  a  sense  of  the  beautiful,  as  regards  buildings, 
the  cultivation  of  gardens,  and  the  laying  out  of  public 
grounds. 

North  America  has  also  this  peculiarity,  that  all  kinds 
of  trees  and  shrubs  from  other  parts  of  the  world  may  be 
removed  here,  become  naturalised  and  flourish  ;  in  the 
grounds  around  Casa  Bianca  are  a  great  number  from 
foreign  countries.  Of  all  the  trees  here  I  like  best  the 
native  large  live-oak,  with  its  long,  pendant  growth  of 
moss,  (two  magnificent  specimens  of  this  tree  stand 
opposite  the  house  on  the  banks  of  Pee  Dee,  and  form  by 
their  branches  an  immense  portico,  through  which  one 
sees  the  river  and  the  landscape  beyond)  and  the  sober, 
lofty,  dark  green  magnolias.  Outside  my  window,  which 
is  in  the  upper  story,  stands  a  cornus  Floridse,  a  tree 
whose  crown  now  seems  to  be  a  mass  of  snow-white 
blossom,  and  early  in  the  morning  I  hear  and  see  the 
thrushes  singing  their  rich  morning  song  on  its  topmost 
branches ;  farther  off  is  the  deliciously  odoriferous  Olea 
fragrans  from  Peru,  and  many  beautiful  rare  trees  and 
shrubs.  Among  these  sing  the  thrushes  and  the  mocking 
birds,  and  swarms  of  blackbirds  twitter  and  chatter,  and 
build  in  the  great  live-oaks.  Mrs.  Poinsett  will  not  allow 


294  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

them  to  be  disturbed,  and  every  morning,  after  breakfast, 
come  little  grey  sparrows  and  the  brilliant  cardinal-birds 
(so  called  from  the  splendour  of  their  plumage)  quite 
familiarly,  and  pick  up  the  rice-grains  which  she  scatters 
for  them  in  the  piazza  before  the  door.  On  the  quiet  little 
river  Pee  Dee,  glides  first  one  and  then  another  canoe 
paddled  by  negroes,  and  it  is  only  by  the  steamboats  which 
now  and  then  swing  their  tails  of  smoke  over  the  river 
Wackamow,  beyond  Pee  Dee,  and  by  the  sailing  vessels 
which  one  sees  on  their  way  down  to  Cuba  or  China,  that 
one  observes  that  here  also  one  lives  in  this  trading  and 
trafficking  world. 

Mr.  Poinsett  is  a  French  gentilhomme  in  his  whole 
exterior  and  demeanour  (lie  is  of  a  Erench  family),  and 
unites  the  refinement  and  natural  courtesy  of  the  French 
man  with  the  truthful  simplicity  and  straightforwardness 
which  I  so  much  like  in  the  true  American,  the  man  of 
the  New  World.  That  fine  figure  is  still  slender  and  agile, 
although  he  suffers  from  asthma.  He  has  seen  much, 
and  been  among  much,  and  is  an  extremely  agreeable 
person  to  converse  with,  in  particular  as  relates  to  the 
internal  political  relationship  of  the  United  States,  which 
he  has  assisted  in  forming,  and  the  spirit  and  intention  of 
which  he  thoroughly  understands,  whilst  he  has  a  warm 
compatriot  heart.  I  have,  in  a  couple  of  conversations 
with  him  in  the  evening  after  tea,  learned  more  of  these 
relationships,  and  those  of  the  individual  states  to  their 
common  government,  than  I  could  have  learned  from 
books,  because  I  acquire  this  knowledge  in  a  living 
manner  from  the  sagacious  old  statesman;  I  can  ask 
questions,  make  objections,  and  have  them  at  once  replied 
to.  He  is  the  first  man  that  I  have  met  with  in  the  South, 
with  one  exception,  who  speaks  of  slavery  in  a  really 
candid  and  impartial  spirit.  He  earnestly  desires  that  his 
native  land  should  free  itself  from  this  moral  obliquity, 
and  he  has  faith  in  its  doing  so  ;  but  he  sees  the  whole 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  295 

thing  at  present  involved  in  so  many  ways,  and  the 
difficulties  attending  any  change  so  great,  that  he  leaves 
the  question  to  be  solved  by  the  future.  He  firmly 
believes  in  the  onward  progress  of  America,  but  he  is  far 
from  satisfied  with  many  things  in  the  country,  and 
especially  in  this  very  State.  He  is  one  of  the  New 
World's  wise  men,  who  more  and  more  withdraw  them 
selves  from  the  world,  looking  calmly  on  from  his 
Hermitage,  and  apparently  happy  there  with  his  excellent 
wife  and  his  rural  occupation. 

In  the  morning,  after  I  have  eaten,  with  a  good  relish, 
my  breakfast  of  rice  and  egg  and  cocoa,  I  help  Mrs. 
Poinsett  to  feed  the  birds,  and  am  delighted  that  the 
beautiful  showy  cardinal-birds  will  condescend  to  pick  up 
my  rice-grains.  And  then,  if  I  rush  out  into  the  garden 
ready  to  embrace  the  air,  and  the  shrubs,  and  all  nature, 
the  good  old  lady  laughs  at  me  right  heartily.  Then  out 
comes  Mr.  Poinsett,  begs  me  to  notice  the  beautiful  la 
marque  rose,  which  Mr.  Downing  gave  him,  and  which 
now  is  full  of  large  clusters  of  yellowish-white  flowers  on 
the  trellised  walls  of  the  house ;  and  thence  he  takes  me 
round  the  garden,  and  tells  me  the  names  of  the  plants 
which  I  do  not  know,  and  their  peculiarities,  for  the  old 
gentleman  is  a  skilful  botanist.  He  has  also  taken  me 
round  his  rice-grounds,  which  are  now  being  sown,  after 
which  they  will  lie  under  water.  And  it  is  this  irrigation, 
and  the  exhalation  therefrom,  which  makes  the  rice- 
plantations  so  unwholesome  for  the  white  population 
during  the  hot  season.  Mr.  Poinsett's  plantations  are  not 
large,  and  seem  not  to  have  more  than  sixty  negroes  upon 
them.  Several  other  plantations  adjoin  these,  but  neither 
are  they  large,  as  it  appeared,  and  my  entertainers  seemed 
not  to  be  intimate  with  their  proprietors. 

I  range  about  in  the  neighbourhood,  through  the  rice- 
fields  and  negro-villages,  which  amuses  me  greatly.  The 
slave -villages  consist  of  small,  white -washed,  wooden 


296  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

houses,  for  the  most  part  built  in  two  rows,  forming  a  street, 
each  house  standing  detached  in  its  little  yard  or  garden, 
and  generally  with  two  or  three  trees  about  it.  The  houses 
are  neat  and  clean,  and  such  a  village,  with  its  peach- 
trees  in  blossom,  as  they  are  just  now,  presents  a 
pleasant  appearance.  The  weather  is  heavenly ;  "  true 
Carolina  air,"  say  the  Carolina  people,  and  it  is 
delicious. 

Yesterday — Sunday — there  was  in  the  forenoon,  divine 
service  for  the  negroes  in  a  wagon-shed,  which  had  been 
emptied  for  that  purpose.  It  was  clean  and  airy,  and  the 
slaves  assembled  there,  well-dressed  and  well  behaved. 
The  sermon  and  the  preacher  (a  white  missionary)  were 
unusually  wooden.  But  I  was  astonished  at  the  people's 
quick  and  glad  reception  of  every  single  expression  of 
beauty  or  of  feeling.  Thus  when  the  preacher  introduced 
the  words  from  Job, — "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath 
taken  away,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord ! "  there 
was  a  general  movement  among  the  people ;  the  words 
were  repeated ;  many  exclaimed  Amen  !  amen!  and  I  saw 
many  eyes  full  of  tears. 

In  the  evening  I  wandered  out  to  enjoy  the  beautiful 
evening  and  to  look  about  me.  I  have  often  heard  it  said 
by  the  friends  of  slavery,  even  in  the  Northern  States,  as 
a  proof  of  the  happiness  of  the  slaves,  that  they  dance 
and  sing  in  the  evening  on  the  plantations.  And  now  I 
thought  perhaps  I  may  chance  to  see  a  dance.  I  reached 
the  slave  village.  The  little  white  houses,  overshadowed 
by  the  pink  blossoming  trees,  with  their  little  plot  of 
gar  den -ground,  looked  charmingly ;  the  little  fat,  black 
children  leapt  about  eating  a  large  yellow  root,  the  sweet 
potatoe,  laughing  if  one  only  looked  at  them,  and 
especially  inclined  to  shake  hands.  But  in  the  village 
itself  everything  was  very  still  and  quiet.  A  few  negro 
men  and  women  were  standing  about,  and  they  looked 
kind  and  well  to  do.  I  heard  in  one  house  a  sound  as  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  297 

prayer  and  zealous  exhortation.  I  entered  and  saw  an 
assemblage  of  negroes,  principally  women,  who  were 
much  edified  and  affected  in  listening  to  a  negro  who  was 
preaching  to  them  with  great  fervour  and  great  gesticula 
tion,  thumping  on  the  table  with  his  clenched  fists.  The 
sum  and  substance  of  his  sermon  was  this — "Let  us 
do  as  Christ  has  commanded  us  ;  let  us  do  as  he  wishes, 
let  us  love  one  another.  Then  he  will  come  to  us  on  our 
sick  beds,  on  our  death  beds,  and  he  will  make  us  free, 
and  we  shall  come  to  him  and  sit  with  him  in  glory  !" 

The  discourse,  spite  of  its  exaggerated  pathos  and  its 
circumlocution,  could  not  have  been  better  in  its  aim  and 
in  its  application.  And  it  delighted  me  to  hear  the 
doctrine  of  spiritual  freedom  promulgated  by  a  slave  among 
slaves.  I  have  since  heard  that  the  Methodist  missionaries, 
who  are  the  most  influential  and  effective  teachers  and 
preachers  among  the  negroes,  are  very  angry  with  them  for 
their  love  of  dancing  and  music,  and  declare  them  to  be 
sinful.  And  whenever  the  negroes  become  Christian  they 
give  up  dancing,  have  preaching  meetings  instead,  and 
employ  their  musical  talents  merely  on  psalms  and  hymns. 
This  seems  to  me  a  very  unwise  proceeding  on  the  part 
of  the  preachers.  Are  not  all  God's  gifts  good,  and  may 
they  not  be  made  use  of  in  His  honour  ?  And  why  should 
not  this  people,  by  nature  joyous  and  childlike,  worship 
God  in  gladness  ?  I  would,  instead,  let  them  have  sacred 
dances,  and  let  them  sing  to  them  jo}rful  songs  of  praise 
in  the  beautiful  air,  beneath  the  blossoming  trees.  Did 
not  King  David  dance  and  sing  in  pious  rapture  before 
the  ark  of  God  ? 

I  went  on  still  farther  through  wood  and  meadow,  into 
the  wild,  silent  country.  When  it  began  to  grow  dusk  I 
turned  back.  I  repassed  the  same  slave  village.  Fires 
blazed  in  the  little  houses,  but  everything  was  more  silent 
and  stiller  than  before.  I  saw  a  young  negro  with  a  good 
and  handsome  countenance,  standing  thoughtfully  under 


298  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  peach-tree,  leaning  against  its  bole.  I  accosted  him, 
and  asked  him  of  one  thing  and  another.  Another  slave 
came  up,  and  then  still  another,  and  the  conversation 
with  them  was  as  follows  : — 

"  At  what  time  do  you  get  up  in  the  morning  ?  " 

"  Before  sunrise." 

"  When  do  you  leave  off  in  the  evening  ?  " 

"When  the  sun  sets — when  it  is  dark." 

"But  when  do  you  get  time  to  look  after  your 
gardens  ?  " 

"We  must  do  that  on  Sundays,  or  at  night,  for 
when  wre  come  home  we  are  so  tired  that  we  could  drop 
down." 

"  How  do  you  get  your  dinners  ?  " 

"  We  have  no  dinner  !  It  is  all  we  can  do  if,  while  we 
are  working,  we  can  throw  a  bit  of  bread,  or  some  corn 
into  us." 

"But  my  friend,"  said  I,  now  a  little  mistrustful, 
"  your  appearance  contradicts  what  you  say  ;  for  you  look 
in  very  good  condition,  and  quite  brisk." 

"  Wre  endeavour  to  keep  ourselves  up  as  well  as  we 
can,"  replied  the  man  by  the  tree;  "  what  can  we  do  unless 
we  keep  up  a  good  heart.  If  we  were  to  let  it  droop  we 
should  die  !  " 

The  others  responded  to  the  song  of  lamentation. 

I  bade  them  good  night  and  went  my  way,  suspecting 
that  all  was  not  true  in  the  slaves'  representation.  But 
still — it  might  be  true ;  it  was  true  if  not  here,  yet  in 
other  places  and  under  wicked  masters ;  it  might  always 
be  true  in  an  institution  which  gives  such  irresponsible 
power  at  will — and  all  its  actual  and  possible  misery 
presented  itself  to  me,  and  made  me  melancholy.  The 
evening  was  so  beautiful,  the  air  so  fragrant,  the  roses 
were  all  in  blossom ;  nature  seemed  to  be  arrayed  as  a 
bride  ;  the  heaven  was  bright ;  the  new  moon,  with  the 
old  moon  in  her  arms,  was  bright  in  the  firmament,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  299 

the  stars  came  out,  clear  and  brilliant.  The  glory  of  the 
scene,  and  that  poor,  black,  enslaved,  degraded  people — 
they  did  not  at  all  agree  !  All  my  enjoyment  was  over. 

I  was  glad  however  to  have  a  man  like  Mr.  Poinsett  to 
talk  with.  And  to  him  I  confided,  in  the  evening,  my 
conversation  and  my  thoughts.  Mr.  Poinsett  maintains 
that  the  slaves  have  told  me  falsehoods.  "  One  can  never 
believe  what  they  say,"  said  he,  adding,  "  that  also  is  one 
of  the  evils  of  slavery.  The  people  are  made  liars 
by  it.  Children  learn  from  their  parents  to  regard  the 
white  people  with  fear,  and  to  deceive  them.  They  are 
always  suspicious,  and  endeavour  by  their  complainings 
to  get  some  advantage.  But  you  may  be  sure  that  they 
have  been  imposing  upon  you.  The  slaves  round  here 
have  a  certain  quantity  of  work  set  them  for  the  day,  and 
at  this  time  of  the  year  they  have  for  the  most  part 
finished  it  by  four  or  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  There 
is  commonly  kept  on  every  plantation  a  male  or  female 
cook  who  prepares  the  daily  dinner  at  one  o'clock.  I  have 
one  for  my  people,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  Mr.  - 
also  has  one  for  his  people.  It  cannot  be  otherwise. 
And  I  am  certain  that  you  would  find  it  to  be  so  if  you 
would  examine  into  the  aifair." 

Mr.  Poinsett  does  not  deny  but  that  abuse  and 
maltreatment  of  slaves  has  often  occurred  and  still  occurs, 
but  public  opinion  becomes  more  and  more  sternly 
opposed  to  it.  Some  years  ago  extreme  cruelty  was 
practised  against  the  slaves  on  a  plantation  in  the  neigh 
bourhood,  by  an  overseer,  during  the  prolonged  absence 
in  England  of  the  owner  of  the  plantations.  The  planters 
in  the  neighbourhood  united,  wrote  to  him,  told  him  that 
they  could  not  bear  it,  and  requested  that  the  overseer 
should  be  removed.  And  this  was  done.  Mr.  P.  considers 
that  the  system  of  slavery  operates  in  many  cases  much 
more  unfavourably  on  women  than  on  men,  and  makes 
them,  not  unfrequently,  the  hardest  masters. 


300  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

18th. — I  am  just  returned  from  a  solitary  ramble  into 
the  plantations,  which  has  done  me  good,  for  it  has  shown 
me  that  the  slaves  under  the  peach-tree  really  did  impose 
upon  me.  During  my  ramble  I  saw  at  one  place  in  the 
rice-field  a  number  of  small  copper  vessels  standing, 
each  covered  with  a  lid,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  in 
number,  just  as  with  us,  one  sees  the  labourers'  noggins 
and  baskets  standing  together  in  the  grass.  I  went  up,  lifted 
the  lid  of  one,  and  saw  that  the  vessel  contained  warm, 
steaming  food,  which  smelt  very  good.  Some  of  them 
were  filled  with  brown  beans,  others  with  maize -pancakes. 
I  now  saw  the  slaves  coming  up  from  a  distance,  walking 
along  the  headland  of  the  field.  I  waited  till  they  came 
up,  and  then  asked  permission  to  taste  their  food,  and  I 
must  confess  that  I  have  seldom  tasted  better,  or  more 
savoury  viands.  The  brown  beans  were  like  our  "  princess 
beans,"  boiled  soft  with  meat  and  seasoned,  somewhat  too 
highly  for  me.  But  it  ate  with  a  relish,  and  so  did  the 
maize -cakes  and  the  other  viands  also.  The  people  seated 
themselves  upon  the  grass-sward  and  ate,  some  with 
spoons,  others  with  splinters  of  wood,  each  one  out  of  his 
own  piggin,  as  these  vessels  are  called,  and  which  contained 
an  abundant  portion.  They  seemed  contented,  but  were 
very  silent.  I  told  them  that  the  poor  working  people  in 
the  country  from  which  I  came  seldom  had  such  good  food 
as  they  had  here.  I  was  not  come  there  to  preach 
rebellion  among  the  slaves,  and  the  malady  which  I 
could  not  cure,  I  would  alleviate  if  it  was  in  my  power. 
Besides  which,  what  I  said  was  quite  true.  But  I  did  not 
tell  them  that  which  was  also  true,  that  I  would  rather 
live  on  bread  and  water  than  live  as  a  slave. 

On  my  homeward  way  I  saw  an  old  negro,  very  well 
dressed,  who  was  standing  fishing  in  a  little  stream.  He 
belonged  to  Mr.  Poinsett,  but  had  been  by  him  liberated 
from  all  kind  of  work  in  consequence  of  his  age.  From 
this  sensible  old  man  I  heard  various  things  which  also  i 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  301 

pleased  me.  I  saw  in  two  other  places  likewise  the  people 
at  their  meals,  breakfast  and  dinner,  and  saw  that  here 
too  the  food  was  good  and  abundant. 

I  passed  by  my  negroes  of  the  peach-tree  yesterday 
afternoon,  and  saw  them  coming  home  with  a  crowd  of 
others  at  about  six  o'clock.  One  of  them  sprang  over  a 
hedge  when  he  saw  me,  and  grinning  with  his  white  teeth, 
asked  from  me  a  half  dollar. 

April  20th. — Good  day,  my  sweet  child  !  I  have  just 
had  my  second  breakfast,  at  twelve  o'clock,  of  bananas.  I 
am  beginning  to  like  this  fruit.  It  is  gentle  and  agreeable, 
and  has  a  wholesome  effect,  as  well  as  the  mild  air  here, 
that  is  to  say,  when  it  is  mild.  But  even  here  the  climate 
is  very  changeable.  Yesterday  the  thermometer  fell  in 
one  day  twenty-four  degrees,  and  it  was  so  cold  that  my 
fingers  were  stiff  as  icicles.  To-day  again  one  is  covered 
with  perspiration,  even  when  one  sits  quietly  in  the  shade. 
We  have  been  twice  at  great  dinners  with  planters  some 
miles  from  here,  but  I  am  so  annoyed  by  great  dinners, 
and  made  so  ill  by  the  things  I  eat,  that  I  hope,  with 
all  my  heart,  not  to  go  to  any  more.  But  my  good  hostess, 
who  has  a  youthful  soul,  in  a  heavy  and  somewhat  lame 
body,  heartily  enjoys  being  invited  out. 

Yesterday,  as  we  were  taking  a  drive,  the  carriage,  which 
has  generally  to  go  through  heavy  sand,  made  a  stand  in 
a  wood  for  the  horses  to  rest.  Deeper  down  in  the  wood 
I  saw  a  slave  village,  or  houses  resembling  one,  but  which 
had  an  unusually  irregular  and  tumble-down  appearance. 
At  my  wish  Mr.  Poinsett  went  with  me  to  it.  I  found  the 
houses  actually  in  the  most  decayed  and  deplorable  con 
dition,  and  in  one  house  old  and  sickly  negroes,  men  and 
women.  In  one  room  I  saw  a  young  lad  very  much 
swollen,  as  if  with  dropsy  ;  the  rain  and  wind  could  enter 
by  the  roof;  everything  was  naked  in  the  room  ;  neither 
fire-wood  nor  fire  was  there,  although  the  day  was  chilly. 
In  another  wretched  house  we  saw  an  old  woman  lying 


302  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

among  rags  as  in  a  dog-kennel.  This  was  the  provision 
which  one  of  the  planters  made  for  the  old  and  sick 
among  his  servants  !  What  a  fate  is  theirs  who  have 
fallen  into  such  circumstances !  And  what  pitying  eye 

beholds  them  excepting — God's  ? 

*  *  *  * 

In  one  slave  village  near  a  great  house,  I  saw 
remarkably  handsome  people,  and  living  in  good  houses. 
But  I  observed  that  the  glances  of  the  young  men  were 
gloomy  and  defiant,  with  no  expression  of  kindness 
towards  their  owners.  That  did  not  look  well.  On  our 
homeward  way  we  drove  through  many  slave  villages.  It 
was  a  pleasant  sight  to  see  the  fire-light  flickering  in  the 
small  houses — for  each  family  has  its  own  house — and  to 
see  the  negroes  come  so  early  from  their  day-labour. 
This  district  consists  of  a  sandy,  wood-covered  soil.  The 
wood  is  principally  a  kind  of  yellowish  pine — the  yellow- 
pine,  or  light-wood,  with  great  tufts  of  six-inch  long  leaves, 
which  sometimes  assume  the  likeness  of  the  palmetto. 
It  is  horribly  monotonous  ;  but  splendid,  lofty  flowers, 
lupines,  and  rose-red  azaleas,  grow  among  the  trees,  and 
light  up  the  woods.  It  was  late  and  dark  before  we 
reached  home,  and  I  sate  and  looked  at  the  lights  which 
I  saw  flash  here  and  there  near  the  road  or  in  the  wood, 
but  which  vanished  as  we  approached.  I  called  Mr. 
Poinsett's  attention  to  them,  and  he  said  that  they  must 
be  fire-flies.  They  make  their  appearance  about  this 
time.  I  hope  to  make  a  nearer  acquaintance  with  the 
shining  creatures. 

21s£. — I  have  to-day  wandered  about  deliciously  in  wood 
and  field,  and  in  so  doing,  came  to  a  river  called  the 
Black  Eiver.  I  saw  slaves  at  work  not  far  off,  under  a 
white  overseer,  from  whom  I  requested  and  obtained  an 
old  negro  to  take  me  across  the  river.  The  good- 
humoured  old  man  was  more  free-spoken  and  clear-headed 
in  his  conversation  than  I  have  commonly  found  the  slaves 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  303 

to  be.  And  whilst  he  rowed  me  in  a  little  canoe,  made 
of  a  hollowed  tree  stem,  he  talked  freely  about  the  owners 
of  the  plantations  that  lay  by  the  river.  Of  one  it  was — 
"  Good  master !  blessed  master,  ma'am  !  "  of  another — 
"  bad  master,  ma'am  !  beats  his  servants.  Cuts  them  to 
pieces,  ma'am  !  "  and  so  on. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  river  I  came  to  a  plantation 
where  I  met  with  the  owner  himself,  who  was  a 
clergyman.  He  conducted  me  through  the  slave -village, 
and  talked  to  me  about  the  happiness  of  the  negro 
slaves,  which  convinced  me  that  he  himself  was  a  slave  of 
mammon.  Certain  it  is  that  under  a  good  master  they 
are  far  from  unhappy,  and  much  better  provided  for  than 
the  poor  working  people  in  many  parts  of  Europe.  But 
under  a  wicked  master  they  have  fallen  into  direful  and 
hopeless  misery.  Sophists,  who  are  determined  to  see 
only  the  sunny  side  of  the  picture,  deny  absolutely  that 
such  are  ever  to  be  found.  But  I  have  already  both  heard 
and  seen  enough  of  them.  That  which  the  North  testifies 
against  the  South  I  will  not  believe  ;  but  that  which 
the  South  testifies  against  itself,  I  am  compelled  to 
believe.  Besides  the  best  master  is  no  justification  of 
slavery,  for  the  best  master  dies  sooner  or  later,  and  his 
slaves  are  then  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  like  cattle.  -  The 
slaves  out  in  the  fields  present  a  joyless  appearance;  their 
dark  colour  and  their  grey  dress,  without  a  single  white 
or  coloured  garment  to  enliven  it,  give  them  a  gloomy  and 
dull  appearance.  I  must  however  mention,  as  an  excep 
tion,  the  knitted  cotton  caps  of  the  men,  which  have 
generally  a  couple  of  red  or  blue  stripes,  knitted  into  the 
grey  ground-colour.  At  work  in  the  field  they  look  like 
figures  of  earth.  Quite  different  is  the  appearance  of  our 
peasants  in  their  white  linen,  their  showy,  ornamental 
attire.  The  slave  villages,  on  the  other  hand,  as  I  have 
already  remarked,  have  rather  a  comfortable  appearance, 
excepting  that  one  very  rarely  sees  glass  in  the  windows 


304  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  their   houses.     The   window   generally  consists  of  s. 
square  opening,  which  is  closed  with  a  shutter.     But  so 
also  are  those  in  the  houses  of  the  poor  white  people,  and 
in  Carolina  there  are  many  such  to  he  met  with.     In  the 
room  one  sees,  nearly  always,  a  couple  of  logs  burning 
on  the  hearth,  and  the  household  furniture  and  little  pro 
vision  stores  resemble  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
homes  of  our  poorest  people  in  town  and  country.     Here 
and  there,  however,  one  sees  more  attention  paid  to  the 
house;  a   little   ornament  about  it,  together  with  well- 
supplied   beds.     Every   house   has  a  pigstye,   in   which 
there  is  generally  a  very  fat   pig;  and  many  hens   and 
chickens   swarm   about   the  garden-plot,   in   which  they 
grow    Indian     corn,     beans,     and    different     kinds     of 
roots.      These   little   plots,    however,    do  not  look  very 
well  attended  to.     The  slaves   sell  eggs  and   chickens, 
and   every    Christmas   their   pig   also,    and   thus  obtain 
a  little  money  to  buy  treacle  or  molasses  (of  which  they 
are  very  fond),  biscuits,  and  other  eatables.     They  often 
lay  up  money;  and  I  have  heard  speak  of  slaves  who 
possess    several    hundred    dollars.      This    money   they 
generally  place  out  to   interest   in   the   hands   of  their 
masters,  whom,  when  they  are  good,  they  regard  as  their 
best  friends,  and  who  really  are  so.    All  the  slave -villages 
which   I  saw  perfectly  resemble   each  other,   only  that! 
some  of  the  houses  are  better,  and  others  worse  kept. 
The   slaves   are  under  the  management  of  one  or  two 
overseers,  appointed  by  the  master,  and  under  these  there i 
is,  for  each  village,  a  driver,  who  wakes  the  slaves  in  the; 
morning,    or   drives  them  to  work  when  they  are  late., 
The    driver    is    always    a    negro,    and    is     often    the 
most   cruel   and   the   most    severe    man    in   the    whole 
plantation.     For   when   the   negro   is   unmerciful   he  is< 
so    in    a   high   degree,    and    he   is   the   worst    torment 
of  the   negroes.      Free  negroes,   who   are   possessed   of' 
slaves — and  there   are   such — are    commonly  the  worsti 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  305 

of  masters.  So,  at  least,  I  have  been  told  by  trust 
worthy  persons. 

22nd. — I  dreamed  last  night  so  livingly  of  you,  my 
darling  Agatha,  and  was  delighted  to  see  how  brisk  and 
well  you  looked;  we  talked,  in  my  dream,  about 
Marstand,  and  you  told  me  that  mamma  thought  of 
accompanying  you  thither.  Now  that  I  am  awake 
I  wonder  whether  the  dream  was  a  soothsaying.  Mamma 
is  always  accustomed  to  approve  of  your  bathing  and 
water-cure. 

My  life  passes  quietly,  as  quietly  as  the  little  river 
before  my  window ;  but  it  is  well  for  me.  I  have  not 
passed  a  calmer  time  since  I  have  been  in  this  country; 
for,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  occasional  visits  in  the 
forenoon  from  neighbours,  I  live  quite  alone  with  my 
good,  old  married  pair.  Every  morning  there  is  laid  on 
the  breakfast-table,  beside  my  plate,  a  bouquet  of 
deliciously  fragrant  flowers,  generally  of  the  Peruvian 
Olea  fragrans,  (and  anything  more  delicious  I  do  not  know,) 
gathered  by  Mr.  Poinsett.  Every  evening  I  sit  with  him 
and  Mrs.  Poinsett  alone,  read  and  talk  with  him,  or  tell 
stories  for  the  good  old  lady,  or  give  her  riddles  to  guess, 
which  very  much  amuses  her.  She  sits  by  the  fire  and 
takes  a  nap,  or  listens  to  what  Mr.  Poinsett  and  I  read  by 
lamplight  at  the  table.  I  wished  to  make  him  a  little 
acquainted  with  my  friends  the  transcendentalists  and 
idealists  of  the  north,  and  I  have  read  to  him  portions  of 
Emerson's  Essays.  But  they  shoot  over  the  head  of 
the  old  statesman ;  he  says  it  is  all  "  unpractical,"  and 
he  often  criticises  it  unjustly,  and  we  quarrel.  Then  the 
good  old  lady  laughs  by  the  fire,  and  nods  to  us,  and  is 
amazingly  entertained.  Mr.  Poinsett  is  nevertheless 
struck  with  Emerson's  brilliant  aphorisms,  and  says  that 
he  will  buy  his  works.  It  is  remarkable  how  very  little, 
or  not  at  all,  the  authors  of  the  Northern  States,  even 
the  best  of  them,  are  known  in  the  south.  They  are 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

afraid  of  admitting  their  liberal  opinions  into  the  slave 
states. 

Mr.  Poinsett  has  travelled  much,  as  well  in  Europe  as 
in  America,  and  he  maintains  that  no  scenery,  not  even  the 
sublimest  scenery  of  South  America,  its  Andes  and  its 
river  Amazon,  equals  Switzerland  in  picturesque  beauty. 
Switzerland  is  the  only  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
which  he  desires  to  see  again,  and  there  he  would  like  to 
spend  his  last  days.  He  seems  weary  of  statesmanship 
and  of  the  life  of  a  statesman.  Even  Calhoun,  the  great 
and  almost  idolised  statesman  of  Carolina,  is  not  great  in 
Mr.  Poinsett's  opinion,  excepting  in  ambition.  His 
whole  life  seems  to  have  been  a  warfare  in  the  service  of 
ambition,  and  his  death  (for  he  is  just  dead,  during  the 
sitting  of  Congress  at  Washington)  the  result  of  this 
warfare  in  his  breast,  owing  to  the  political  feuds  in 
which  he  perpetually  lived. 

It  is  very  charming  to  see  my  two  old  friends  together 
in  everyday  life.  They  are  heartily  attached  to  each 
other.  One  standing  quarrel  they  have  about  a  horrible 
old  straw  bonnet  of  Mrs.  Poinsett's,  which  looks  like  an 
ancient  up-turned  boat,  and  which  Mr.  Poinsett  cannot 
bear  the  sight  of,  and  which  he  threatens  to  make 
an  end  of,  to  burn,  every  time  he  sets  eyes  on  it,  but 
which  she  obstinately  will  keep,  and  which  she  defends 
with  terror  whenever  he  makes  any  hostile  demonstration 
against  it.  But  it  is  altogether  a  love -squabble,  and  as 
it  has  now  lasted  for  ten  years  I  suppose,  it  will  last  on  to 
the  days  of  their  death.  They  have  both  of  them  a 
cough  which  they  call  "  constitutional,"  and  I  also  cough 
a  little  now  and  then,  as  I  have  always  done;  we 
have  now  three  constitutional  coughs.  I  contemplate 
this  good  feeling  between  my  old  couple  with  delight, 
and  see  how  true  love  can  bloom  in  and  beautify  old 
age.  There  are  attentions,  pleasing  little  acts  of  fore 
thought  or  compliance,  which  are  worth  many  kisses,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  307 

have  certainly  a  greater  charm  than  these  as  proofs  of 
love. 

I  spend  the  greater  part  of  the  forenoon  in  the  garden 
among  the  flowers,  birds,  and  butterflies,  all  splendid  and 
strangers  to  me,  and  which  salute  me  here  as  anonymous 
beauty.     During  these   hours  spent  amid  this  new  and 
beautiful  nature,  thoughts  visit  me  which  give  me  great 
joy  and  which  in  every  way  are  a  great  comfort  to  me. 
I  will  explain :  I  have  for  sometime  felt  as  if  I  could  scarcely 
bear  to  read,  nor  yet  to  write  anything  which  required  the 
least  exertion  of  mind,  as  it  produces  in  me  a  degree  of 
nervous  suffering  which  is  indescribable,  and  the  effect  of 
which  remained  long  afterwards.    I  have  therefore  almost 
given  up  the  hope    of  studying,  and  of  making  myself 
much  acquainted  with  books  during  my  residence  in  this 
country ;  this  has  been  painful  to  me  and  I  have  long 
striven  against  it,   because  study  has  always   been    my 
greatest  pleasure,  and  now  more  than  ever  was  it  neces 
sary  for  me  to  be  able  to  devour  books,  so  that  I  might 
be  somewhat  at  home  in  the  life  and  literature  of  this 
country.      Here,  however,  during   these   beautiful   early 
mornings,  in  this  beautiful,  fragrant,  silent  world  of  trees 
and   flowers,   there  has  arisen  within  me  a  clearness,  a 
certainty,  something  like  the  inner  light  of  the  Quakers, 
which  tells  me  that  it  is  best  for  me  now  to  lay  aside 
books,  and  altogether  to  yield  myself  up  to  live  in  that 
living  life,  to  live  free  from  care  for  the  moment  and  to 
take  and  accept  that  which  the  hour  and  the  occasion 
present,  without   troubling   myself   with  many  plans  or 
much  thought.   I  must  let  things  come  to  me  as  they  may 
come,  and  determine  for  me  as  they  will  determine.     A 
conviction  has  come  to  my  mind  that  a  higher  guidance 
attends  me  and  that  it  will  direct  everything  for  the  best ; 
that  I  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  yield  myself  up  to  its 
inspiration  so  long  as  I  keep  my  eye  firmly  directed  to 
the  Star  of  Bethlehem  which  hd  me  hither— and  I  cannot 

x  2 


308  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

turn  my   eye   from  that — the    desire  to  find  the  truth. 
Thus  shall  I  find  the  child  of  God ! 

Therefore,  in  God's  name,  farewell  to  books,  to  the 
old  friends  and  pasture-grounds.  I  press  forwards  towards 
that  which  is  before  me,  and  confide  in  the  fatherly  guid 
ance  of  God.  A  something  infinitely  delightful  and  elevat 
ing  has  taken  possession  of  my  soul  with  these  thoughts, 
and  filled  my  heart  with  joy.  Weak,  I  yet  know  myself 
to  be  strong,  bound  down  to  the  earth,  I  yet  know  that  I 
have  wings;  I  am  merely  a  child  and  yet  I  can  over 
come  the  world. 

And  thus  I  go  forth  and  converse  with  the  flowers,  and 
listen  to  the  birds  and  to  the  whispering  of  the  great 
live-oaks.  Oaks  like  these,  with  their  long,  depending 
trails  of  moss  must  have  inspired  the  oracle  of  Dodona. 

The  blackbirds  which  build  in  them  in  great  numbers, 
are  about  the  size  of  our  jackdaw,  and  have  on  each  side 
their  necks,  below  the  head,  a  fine  yellow  ruff,  like  a  half- 
round  frill.  The  mockingbirds  are  grey,  about  as  large  as 
our  Swedish  nightingale,  and  their  song  is  very  intricate  and 
often  really  charming ;  but  it  wants  the  strong  inspiration 
of  the  European  nightingale  and  lark.  It  is  as  if  the  bird 
sang  from  memory ;  sang  reminiscences,  and  imitated  a 
number  of  sounds  of  other  birds  and  even  animals.  There 
are,  however,  in  its  song,  beautiful,  peculiar  tones  resem 
bling  those  both  of  the  thrush  and  the  nightingale.  People 
say  that  these  birds  dance  minuets  with  each  other.  I  too 
have  seen  them  here  figuring  towards  one  another,  tripping 
quite  in  a  minuet-fashion.  I  suppose  this  is  their  way  of 
wooing.  It  is  remarkable  that  people  never  succeed  in 
rearing  in  cages  the  young  of  these  birds  which  have 
been  taken  from  the  nest;  they  always  die  shortly 
after  their  captivity.  It  is  asserted  that  the  mothers 
come  to  them  and  give  them  poison.  The  full-grown 
birds  in  the  country  thrive  very  well  and  sing  in  cages. 

I  am  sometimes  interrupted  in  my  forenoon  musings 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  309 

by  a  merry  negro-girl,  servant  in  the  house,  who  says 
"Missis  has  sent  me  to  hunt  you,"  and  it  is  for  me  to 
come  in  to  my  luncheon.  If  I  am  writing  I  remain  in  my 
own  room  and  then,  generally  at  twelve  o'clock,  the  good 
old  lady  herself  comes  up  to  me  with  bananas  and  a 
glass  of  milk.  In  the  afternoon  I  generally  go  on  some 
expedition  of  discovery.  When  I  am  returning  home  in 
the  twilight  I  often  see  my  old  folks  coming  to  meet 
me,  she  walking  with  a  crutch  and  supported  by  his  arm. 

2±th. — Last  evening  I  had  an  old  negro  to  row  me 
in  a  little  canoe  down  the  Wachamon  river,  spite  of 
Mr.  Poinsett's  remonstrances,  who  fancied  that  no  good 
would  come  of  it.  The  moon  rose  and  shone  brightly  on 
the  river  and  its  banks,  over  which  hung  various  trees 
and  plants  in  flower  with  which  I  was  unacquainted.  The 
negro,  a  kind  old  man,  paddled  the  boat  onward,  and 
wherever  I  saw  an  enticing  flower,  thither  we  paddled 
and  gathered  it.  Thus  went  we  on  for  about  two  hours 
in  that  clear  moonlight,  and  everything  was  as  solitary 
and  silent  on  the  river,  and  on  its  banks,  as  in  a  desert. 

There  had,  however,  been  this  day  a  great  wedding  on 
the  banks  of  the  Wachamon,  and  all  the  neighbours  had 
been  invited;  but  either  my  host  and  hostess  did  not 
belong  to  their  circle  of  acquaintance  or  the  fame  of  my 
abolitionist  views  had  prevented  us  being  invited.  Very 
good !  for  though  I  love  to  see  brides  and  weddings,  yet 
I  love  quietness  now  better  than  all. 

My  good  host  and  hostess  were  glad  to  see  me  return 
from  my  river-excursion,  and  Mr.  Poinsett  told  me  the 
names  of  the  flowers  which  I  had  gathered ;  one  of  these 
was  the  Magnolia  glauca,  a  white  flower  something  like 
our  white  water-lily ;  this  grows  on  a  smaller  tree,  with 
grey-green  leaves ;  the  celebrated,  splendid  flower  of  the 
South,  the  Magnolia  grandiflora,  does  not  blossom  till  the 
end  of  May. 

I  shall  in  a  few  days  leave  this  place  and  return  to 


310  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Charleston.  My  kind  entertainers  wish  me  to  remain 
yet  longer,  but  I  greatly  desire  to  reach  Savannah  before 
the  heat  becomes  too  great,  and  I  must  therefore  hasten. 
I  have  received  much  kindness  here  and  much  benefit 
from  Mr.  Poinsett's  conversation.  The  evenings  spent 
alone  with  my  good  old  friends  are  somewhat  tedious. 
One  cannot  be  always  talking  American  politics,  and  the 
old  statesman  takes  an  interest  in  nothing  else,  nor  can 
one  always  have  stories  and  riddles  at  hand  to  amuse  the 
old  lady,  who  sits  dozing  by  the  fire,  and  sometimes 
persuades  her  husband  to  do  the  same,  sitting  opposite, 
whilst  I  amuse  myself  as  well  as  I  can,  which  is  not  very 
well  as  I  am  not  able  to  read,  and  as  there  is  no  piano, 
and  it  is  then  too  late  to  go  out.  It  is  time  therefore  to 
be  going.  I  now  know  how  life  looks  in  the  plantations, 
know  how  the  negro  slaves  live,  and  how  rice  and  Indian 
corn  are  planted. 

Charleston,  April  26th. — Again,  my  sweet  child,  am  I 
in  my  good,  excellent  home  with  Mrs.  W.  H. 

The  sea  voyage  between  Georgetown  and  Charleston 
was  cheerless  and  cold,  but  now  we  have  the  full  heat  of 
the  dog-days.  I  spent  the  last  evening  with  my  good  old 
couple  in  mending  their  old  gloves — of  course  by  my  own 
wish — whilst  Philemon  and  Baucis  sate,  each  in  their 
arm-chair,  by  the  fire  and  slept.  They  are  aged  and 
infirm,  and  have  arrived  at  that  period  of  life  when  the 
rest  and  life  of  the  child  are  their  highest  happiness. 
The  next  morning  I  set  off,  accompanied  by  the  courteous 
old  statesman  as  far  as  Georgetown,  and  spite  of  good 
Mrs.  Poinsett's  troubled  looks,  who  saw  threatening  clouds 
which  would  drown  us.  We  however  arrived  quite  safely, 
while  the  morning  freshness,  and  the  drive  through  that 
wild  district,  and  through  forests  brilliant  with  the 
beautiful  flowery  azaleas  was  delightful  and  refreshing. 
At  Georgetown,  a  little  town  where  the  number  of  geese 
seemed  to  me  the  most  remarkable  feature,  I  parted 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  311 

from  ray  kind  companion  with  the  promise  of  a  second 
visit. 

On  my  arrival  at  Charleston  in  the  evening  I  was 
met  by  Mr.  M.  with  the  carriage.  When  we  reached 
Mrs.  W.  H.'s  house  the  young  people  were  dancing  to 
the  piano  in  the  brilliant  drawing-room ;  Mr.  M.  and  I 
danced  in,  arm  in  arm,  among  them  amid  great  jubila 
tion.  And  I  found  myself  here  almost  as  if  in  my  own 
home.  Certain  it  is  that  this  home  has  more  the 
impression  of  our  Scandinavian  homes,  (N.B. — when  they 
are  good  and  happy)  than  any  home  I  have  yet  seen  or 
heard  of  in  this  country.  The  domestic  life,  the  dancing, 
the  music,  and  the  evening  games,  are  altogether  in  the 
Swedish  style. 

I  was  yesterday  present  at  the  funeral-procession  of 
the  statesman  and  senator  of  Carolina,  Calhoun,  whose 
body  passed  through  Charleston.  The  procession  was 
said  to  consist  of  above  three  thousand  persons;  and 
it  seemed  indeed  to  be  interminable.  The  hearse  was 
magnificent,  and  so  lofty  from  a  large  catafalk  that 
it  seemed  to  threaten  all  gates  made  by  human  hands. 

Many  regiments  paraded  in  splendid  uniforms,  and  a 
great  number  of  banners  with  symbolic  figures  and 
inscriptions  were  borne  aloft ;  it  was  very  splendid,  and 
all  went  on  well.  All  parties  seems  to  have  united  with 
real  devotion  and  admiration  to  celebrate  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  and  his  death  is  deplored  in  the  Southern 
States  as  the  greatest  misfortune.  He  has  sate  many 
years  in  Congress  as  the  most  powerful  advocate  of 
slavery,  not  merely  as  a  necessary  evil,  but  as  a  good,  both 
for  the  slave  and  the  slave  owner ;  and  has  been  a  great 
champion  for  the  rights  of  the  Southern  States.  Calhoun, 
Clay,  and  Webster,  have  long  been  celebrated  as  a 
triumvirate  of  great  statesmen,  the  greatest  in  all  the  land. 
Calhoun  was  the  great  man  of  the  Southern  States,  Clay 
of  the  Western  and  Middle  States,  Webster  of  the  States 


312  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  New  England,  although  there  is  great  opposition  in 
the  New  England  States  against  Webster,  particularly 
among  the  Anti- slavery  party.  Each  of  these,  although 
old,  has  been  a  mighty  champion;  at  the  same  time 
admired  and  feared,  loved  and  hated.  There  yet  remain 
two ;  the  third  fell  on  the  scene  of  combat,  fighting  in 
death,  and  as  it  seemed,  even  against  it. 

His  portrait  and  bust,  of  which  I  have  seen  many,  give 
me  the  impression  of  a  burning  volcano.  The  hair  stands 
on  end,  the  deep-set  eyes  flash,  deep  furrows  plough  that 
keen,  thin  countenance.  It  is  impossible  from  this 
exterior,  which  seems  to  have  been  ravaged  by  sickness 
and  passion,  to  form  any  idea  of  the  fascinating  man  in 
society,  the  excellent  head  of  a  family,  with  manners  as 
pure  as  those  of  a  woman,  affectionate  to  all  his  relatives, 
a  good  master,  almost  adored  by  his  servants  and  slaves — 
in  a  word,  the  amiable  human  being,  which  even  his 
enemies  acknowledge  him  to  have  been. 

Political  ambition  and  party- spirit  seem  to  have  been 
his  demons,  and  to  have  hastened  his  death.  Clay  in  his 
speech  on  Calhoun  in  the  Senate,  makes  some  gently 
warning  allusions  to  this.  His  fight  for  slavery  was  "  a 
political  bravado,"  said  a  clever  lady,  who  was  not  one  of 
the  anti- slavery  party.  Pity  that  so  good  a  man  should 
live — and  died  for  so  wretched  a  thing  ! 

o 

In  South  Carolina,  the  idolatry  with  which  he  was 
regarded  was  carried  to  the  extreme,  and  it  has  been  said, 
in  joke,  that  "  when  Calhoun  took  snuff  the  whole  of 
Carolina  sneezed."  Even  now  people  talk  and  write 
about  him  as  if  he  had  been  a  divine  person. 

During  the  procession  a  whole  crowd  of  negroes  leapt 
about  the  streets,  looking  quite  entertained,  as  they  are 
by  any  pomp.  Some  one  told  me  that  he  heard  the 
negroes  say,  "  Calhoun  was  indeed  a  wicked  man,  for  he 
wished  that  we  might  remain  slaves." 

On  the  evening  of  this  day  we  had  strangers  at  home, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  313 

and  games,  dancing  and  music,  all  merry  and  gay.  After 
this  we  walked  in  the  piazza  in  the  warm  moonlight-air 
till  midnight.  On  the  country  side  was  heard  the  song  of 
the  negroes  as  they  rowed  their  boats  up  the  river  on 
their  return  from  the  city,  whither  they  had  taken  their 
small  wares — eggs,  fowls,  and  vegetables,  for  sale,  as  they 
do  two  or  three  times  a  week. 

When  this  letter  reaches  you,  you  also  will  have  sum 
mer  and  flowers,  my  sweet  Agatha,  and  God  be  praised 
for  it. 

To-morrow  I  set  off  for  Savannah,  and  thence  to 
Magon,  the  capital  of  Georgia,  then  to  Montpellier,  where 
I  am  invited  by  Elliott,  the  distinguished  bishop  of  the 
Episcopal  church  in  the  Southern  States,  to  be  present  at 
the  annual  examination  of  a  ladies'  seminary  which  is 
under  his  care. 

From  that  place  I  shall  write  more. 


LETTEE  XIV. 

MA90N  VINEVILLE,  May  7tk,  1850. 

NAY,  I  did  not  go  to  Savannah  the  day  I  thought  of, 
but  went — on  an  excursion,  to  which  I  invite  you  to 
accompany  me,  but  without  telling  you  whither  we  go. 
We  drive  to  the  rail-road,  we  enter  one  of  the  carriages  : 
Mrs.  W.  H.,  an  agreeable,  young  man  —  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  R.  to  you — and  myself — 
and  now  you  will  accompany  us.  Away  we  go,  through 
forest  and  field,  eighteen  miles  from  Charleston.  It  is 
late  in  the  afternoon  and  very  warm.  We  stop ;  it  is  in 
the  middle  of  a  thick  wood.  There  is  wood  on  all  sides, 
and  not  a  house  to  be  seen.  We  alight  from  the  carriages 
and  enter  a  fir- wood.  After  we  have  walked  for  an  hour 
along  unformed  paths,  the  wood  begins  to  be  very 


314  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

animated.  It  swarms  with  people,  in  particular  with 
blacks,  as  far  as  we  can  see  among  the  lofty  tree-stems. 
In  the  middle  of  the  wood  is  an  open  space,  in  the  centre 
of  which  rises  a  great  long  roof,  supported  by  pillars,  and 
under  which  stand  benches  in  rows,  affording  sufficient 
accommodation  for  four  or  five  thousand  people.  In 
the  middle  of  this  tabernacle  is  a  lofty,  square  elevation, 
and  in  the  middle  of  this  a  sort  of  chair  or  pulpit. 
All  round  the  tabernacle,  for  so  I  call  the  roofed-in  space 
supported  on  pillars,  hundreds  of  tents  and  booths  of  all 
imaginable  forms  and  colours,  are  pitched  and  erected  in  a 
vast  circle,  and  are  seen,  shining  out  white  in  the  wood  to 
a  great  distance,  and  everywhere,  on  all  sides,  near  and 
afar  off,  may  be  seen  groups  of  people,  mostly  black,  busied 
at  small  fires,  roasting  and  boiling.  Children  are.  running 
about,  or  sitting  by  the  fires  ;  horses  stand  and  feed  beside 
the  carriages  they  have  drawn  thither.  It  is  a  perfect 
camp,  with  all  the  varied  particoloured  life  of  a  camp, 
but  without  soldiers  and  arms.  Here  everything  looks 
peaceful  and  festive,  although  not  exactly  joyful. 

By  degrees  the  people  begin  to  assemble  within  the 
tabernacle,  the  white  people  on  one  side,  the  black  on  the 
other ;  the  black  being  considerably  more  numerous  than 
the  white.  The  weather  is  sultry;  thunder- clouds  cover 
the  heavens,  and  it  begins  to  rain.  Not  a  very  agreeable 
prospect  for  the  night,  my  little  darling,  but  there  is 
nothing  for  it,  we  must  pass  the  night  here  in  the  wild 
wood.  We  have  no  other  resource.  But  stop ;  we  have 
another  resource.  That  excellent  young  Mr.  E.  employs 
his  eloquence,  and  a  tent  is  opened  for  us,  and  we  are 
received  into  it  by  a  comfortable  bookseller's  family. 
The  family  are  red-hot  Methodists,  and  not  to  be  objected 
to.  Here  we  have  coffee  and  supper. 

After  this  meal  I  went  out  to  look  around  me,  and  was 
astonished  by  a  spectacle  which  I  never  shall  forget. 
The  night  was  dark  with  the  thunder- cloud,  as  well  as 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  315 

with  the  natural  darkness  of  night ;  but  the  rain  had 
ceased,  excepting  for  a  few  heavy  drops,  which  fell  here 
and  there,  and  the  whole  wood  stood  in  flames.  Upon 
eight  fire-altars,  or  fire-hills,  as  they  are  called,  a  sort 
of  lofty  table,  raised  on  posts,  standing  around  the 
tabernacle,  burned,  with  a  flickering  brilliance  of  flame, 
large  billets  of  fire-wood,  which  contains  a  great  deal  of 
resin,  whilst  on  every  side  in  the  wood,  far  away  in  its 
most  remote  recesses,  burned  larger  or  smaller  fires, 
before  tents  or  in  other  places,  and  lit  up  the  lofty  fir-tree 
stems,  which  seemed  like  columns  of  an  immense  natural 
temple  consecrated  to  fire.  The  vast  dome  above  was 
dark,  and  the  air  was  so  still  that  the  flames  rose  straight 
upwards,  and  cast  a  wild  light,  as  of  a  strange  dawn  upon 
the  fir-tree  tops  and  the  black  clouds. 

Beneath  the  tabernacle  an  immense  crowd  was 
assembled,  certainly  from  three  to  four  thousand  persons. 
They  sang  hymns ;  a  magnificent  quire !  Most  likely 
the  sound  proceeded  from  the  black  portion  of  the 
assembly,  as  their  number  was  three  times  that  of  the 
whites,  and  their  voices  are  naturally  beautiful  and  pure. 
In  the  tower-like  pulpit,  which  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  tabernacle,  were  four  preachers,  who,  during  the 
intervals  between  the  hymns,  addressed  the  people  with 
loud  voices,  calling  sinners  to  conversion  and  amendment 
of  life.  During  all  this,  the  thunder  pealed,  and  fierce 
lightning  flashed  through  the  wood  like  angry  glances  of 
some  mighty  invisible  eye.  We  entered  the  tabernacle, 
and  took  our  seats  among  the  assembly  on  the  side  of  the 
whites. 

Bound  the  elevation,  in  the  middle  of  which  rose  the 
pulpit,  ran  a  sort  of  low  counter,  forming  a  wide  square. 
Within  this,  seated  on  benches  below  the  pulpit,  and  on 
the  side  of  the  whites,  sate  the  Methodist  preachers,  for 
the  most  part  handsome  tall  figures,  with  broad  grave 
foreheads ;  and  on  the  side  of  the  blacks  their  spiritual 


316  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

leaders  and  exhorters,  many  among  whom  were  Mulattoes, 
men  of  a  lofty,  noticeable  and  energetic  exterior. 

The  later  it  grew  in  the  night,  the  more  earnest  grew 
the  appeals  ;  the  hymns  short,  but  fervent,  as  the  flames 
of  the  light  wood  ascended,  like  them,  with  a  passionate 
ardour.  Again  and  again  they  arose  on  high,  like 
melodious,  burning  sighs  from  thousands  of  harmonious 
voices.  The  preachers  increase  in  the  fervour  of  their 
zeal ;  two  stand  with  their  faces  turned  towards  the  camp 
of  the  blacks,  two  towards  that  of  the  whites,  extending 
their  hands,  and  calling  on  the  sinners  to  come,  come,  all 
of  them,  now  at  this  time,  at  this  moment,  which  is 
perhaps  the  last,  the  only  one  which  remains  to  them  in 
which  to  corne  to  the  Saviour,  to  escape  eternal  damnation ! 
Midnight  approaches,  the  fires  burn  dimmer,  but  the 
exaltation  increases  and  becomes  universal.  The  singing 
of  hymns  mingles  with  the  invitations  of  the  preachers, 
and  the  exhortations  of  the  class-leaders  with  the  groans 
and  cries  of  the  assembly.  And  now,  from  among  the 
white  people,  rise  up  young  girls  and  men,  and  go  and 
throw  themselves,  as  if  overcome,  upon  the  low  counter. 
These  are  met  on  the  other  side  by  the  ministers  who 
bend  down  to  them,  receive  their  confessions,  encourage 
and  console  them.  In  the  camp  of  the  blacks  is  heard  a 
great  tumult  and  a  loud  cry.  Men  roar  and  bawl  out ; 
women  screech  like  pigs  about  to  be  killed  ;  many  having 
fallen  into  convulsions  leap  and  strike  about  them,  so  that 
they  are  obliged  to  be  held  down.  It  looks  here  and 
there  like  a  regular  fight ;  some  of  the  calmer  participants 
laugh.  Many  a  cry  of  anguish  may  be  heard,  but  you 
distinguish  no  words  excepting,  "  Oh,  I  am  a  sinner  ! " 
and  "Jesus  !  Jesus  !  " 

During  all  this  tumult  the  singing  continues  loud 
and  beautiful,  and  the  thunder  joins  in  with  its  pealing 
kettle-drum. 

Whilst  this  spectacle  is   going  forward   in   the    black 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  317 

camp  we  observe  a  quieter  scene  among  the  whites. 
Some  of  the  forms  which  had  thrown  themselves  on 
their  knees  at  the  counter  have  removed  themselves,  hut 
others  are  still  lying  there,  and  the  ministers  seem  in 
vain  to  talk  or  to  sing  to  them.  One  of  these,  a  young 
girl,  is  lifted  up  by  her  friends  and  found  to  be  "in 
a  trance."  She  now  lies  with  her  head  in  the  lap  of 
a  woman  dressed  in  black,  with  her  pretty,  young  face 
turned  upwards,  rigid,  and  as  it  appears,  totally  uncon 
scious.  The  woman  dressed  in  black  and  another  also 
in  the  same  coloured  attire,  both  with  beautiful  though 
sorrowful  countenances,  softly  fan  the  young  girl  with 
their  fans  and  watch  her  with  serious  looks,  whilst  ten 
or  twelve  women — most  of  them  young — stand  around 
her,  singing  softly  and  sweetly  a  hymn  of  the  resurrection  ; 
all  watching  the  young  girl,  in  whom  they  believe  that 
something  great  is  now  taking  place.  It  is  really  a  beau 
tiful  scene  in  that  thunderous  night,  and  by  the  light  of 
the  fire -altars. 

After  we  had  contemplated  .  these  scenes,  certainly 
for  an  hour,  and  the  state  of  exaltation  began  to  abate, 
and  the  principal  glory  of  the  night  seemed  to  be  over, 
Mrs.  W.  H.  and  myself  retired  to  the  tent  to  rest. 
This  lay  at  the  outskirts  of  the  white  camp,  and  from 
a  feeling  of  curiosity  I  walked  some  distance  into  the 
darker  portion  of  the  wood.  Here  horrible  things  were 
going  on,  not  among  human  beings,  but  among  frogs 
and  other  reptiles.  They  also  seemed  to  be  holding  some 
sort  of  a  great  meeting,  and  croaked  and  croaked,  and 
coughed  and  snorted,  and  made  such  wonderful  noises  and 
blurts  of  extraordinary  sound,  which  were  like  nothing  but 
a  regular  comedy.  Never  before  did  I  hear  such  a 
concert.  It  was  like  a  parody  of  the  scenes  we  had 
just  witnessed. 

It  was  sultry  and  oppressive  in  the  tent.  Our  kind 
hostess  did  all  in  her  power  to  make  it  comfortable 


318  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

for  us;  and  Mrs.  "W.  H.  thought  merely  of  making 
all  comfortable  for  me,  taking  all  the  inconvenience 
to  herself.  I  could  not  get  any  rest  in  the  tent,  and 
therefore  wished,  at  least,  yet  once  more,  to  take  a  look 
at  the  camp  before  I  lay  down  for  the  night. 

It  was  now  past  midnight ;  the  weather  had  cleared  and 
the  air  was  so  delicious,  and  the  spectacle  so  beautiful,  that 
I  was  compelled  to  return  to  the  tent  to  tell  Mrs.  Rowland, 
who  at  once  resolved  to  come  out  with  me.  The  altar- 
fires  now  burned  low  and  the  smoke  hung  within  the  wood. 
The  transparently  bright  and  blue  heaven  stretched  above 
the  camp.  The  moon  rose  above  the  wood,  and  the 
planet  Jupiter  stood  brilliantly  shining  just  over  the 
tabernacle.  The  singing  of  hymns  still  ascended,  though 
much  lower ;  still  the  class-leaders  exhorted ;  still  the 
young  girl  slept  her  mysterious  sleep;  still  the  women 
watched  and  waited  and  fanned  her,  in  their  attire  of 
mourning.  Some  oppressed  souls  still  la}^  bowed  upon 
the  counter  and  still  were  the  preachers  giving  con 
solation  either  by  word  or  song.  By  degrees,  the  people 
assembled  in  the  tabernacle  dispersed,  scattered  thein- 
selved  through  the  woods,  or  withdrew  to  their  tents. 
Even  the  young  sleeping  girl  awoke  and  was  led  by 
her  friends  away  from  the  assembly.  Mr.  R.  had 
now  joined  us,  and  accompanied  by  him  we  went  the 
round  of  the  camp,  especially  on  the  black  side.  And 
here  all  the  tents  were  still  full  of  religious  exaltation, 
each  separate  tent  presenting  some  new  phasis.  We 
saw  in  one,  a  zealous  convert,  male  or  female,  as  it 
might  be,  who  with  violent  gesticulations  gave  vent  to 
his  or  her  newly- awakened  feelings,  surrounded  by  devout 
auditors ;  in  another,  we  saw  a  whole  crowd  of  black 
people  on  their  knees,  all  dressed  in  white,  striking  them 
selves  on  the  breast  and  crying  out  and  talking  with 
the  greatest  pathos;  in  a  third,  women  were  dancing 
"  the  holy  dance  "  for  one  of  the  newly-converted.  This 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  319 

dancing,  however,  having  been  forbidden  by  the  preachers, 
ceased  immediately  on  our  entering  the  tent.  I  saw 
merely  a  rocking  movement  of  women  who  held  each 
other  by  the  hand  in  a  circle,  singing  the  while.  In  a 
fourth,  a  song  of  the  spiritual  Canaan  was  being  sung 
excellently.  In  one  tent  we  saw  a  fat  negro-member 
walking  about  by  himself  and  breathing  hard ;  he  was 
hoarse,  and  sighing  he  exclaimed  to  himself,  "  Oh !  I 
wish  I  could  hollo  !  "  In  some  tents  people  were  sitting 
around  the  fires,  and  here  visits  were  received,  greetings 
were  made,  and  friendly,  cheerful  talk  went  on,  whilst 
everywhere  prevailed  a  quiet,  earnest  state  of  feeling, 
which  we  also  experienced  whenever  we  stopped  to  talk 
with  the  people.  These  black  people  have  a  something 
warm  and  kind  about  them  which  I  like  much.  One 
can  see  that  they  are  children  of  the  warm  sun.  The 
state  of  feeling  was  considerably  calmer  in  the  camp 
of  the  whites.  One  saw  families  sitting  at  their  covered 
tables  eating  and  drinking. 

At  length  we  returned  to  our  tent,  where  I  lay  upon 
the  family  bed  with  our  good  hostess  and  her  thirteen- 
year  old  daughter,  and  slept  indifferently ;  yet,  thanks  to 
some  small  white  globules  of  my  Downing-mediciiie,  I 
rested  nevertheless,  and  became  calm  in  the  hot  feverish 
night. 

At  sunrise  I  heard  something  which  resembled  the 
humming  of  an  enormous  wasp  caught  in  a  spider's  web. 
It  was  a  larum  which  gave  the  sign  for  the  general 
rising.  At  half-past  five  I  was  dressed  and  out.  The 
hymns  of  the  negroes,  which  had  continued  through 
the  night,  were  still  to  be  heard  on  all  sides.  The 
sun  shone  powerfully — the  air  was  oppressive.  People  were 
cooking  and  having  breakfast  by  the  fires,  and  a  crowd 
already  began  to  assemble  on  the  benches  under  the 
tabernacle.  At  seven  o'clock  the  morning  sermon  and 
worship  commenced.  I  had  observed  that  the  preachers 


320  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

avoided  exciting  the  people's  feelings  too  much,  and  that 
they  themselves  appeared  without  emotion.  This  morn 
ing  their  discourses  appeared  to  me  feehle,  and  especially 
to  be  wanting  in  popular  eloquence.  They  preached 
morality.  But  a  mere  moral  sermon  should  not  be 
preached  when  it  is  the  heart  that  you  wish  to  win  ;  you 
should  then  tell,  in  the  language  of  the  heart,  the 
miracle  of  spiritual  life.  It  was,  therefore,  a  real  refresh 
ment  to  me  when  the  unimpassioned  and  wrell-fed  preach 
ers,  who  had  spoken  this  morning,  gave  place  to  an  elderly 
man  with  a  lively  and  somewhat  humourous  expression  of 
countenance,  who  from  out  the  throng  of  hearers  ascended 
the  pulpit  and  began  to  speak  to  the  people  in  quite 
another  tone.  It  was  familiar,  fresh,  cordial,  and  humour 
ous  ;  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Father  Taylor.  I  should 
like  to  have  heard  him  address  these  people,  but  then, 
I  am  afraid  the  negroes  would  have  been  quite  beside 
themselves  ! 

The  new  preacher  said  that  he  was  a  stranger, — he  was 
evidently  an  Englishman — and  that  it  was  a  mere  chance 
which  brought  him  to  this  meeting.  But  he  felt  com 
pelled,  he  said,  to  address  them  as  "  my  friends,"  and  to 
tell  them  how  glad  he  had  been  to  witness  the  scenes  of 
the  preceding  night  (lie  addressed  himself  especially  to  the 
blacks)  and  to  give  them  his  view  of  the  Gospel  of  God  as 
made  known  in  the  Bible,  and  of  what  the  Bible  teaches  us 
of  God.  "  Now,  you  see,  my  friends," — this  was  the  style 
of  his  discourse — "  when  a  father  has  made  his  will,  and 
his  children  are  all  assembled  to  open  it  and  learn  from  it 
what  are  the  latest  wishes  of  their  father ;  they  do  not 
know  how  their  father  has  disposed  of  and  arranged  his 
property;  and  many  of  them  think,  'perhaps,  there  is 
nothing  for  me ;  perhaps  he  never  thought  of  me  ! '  But 
now,  when  they  open  the  will  and  find  that  there  is  some 
thing  for  John,  and  something  for  Mary,  and  something 
for  Ben,  and  something  for  Betsy,  and  something  for 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  321 

every  one,  and  something  for  all,  and  that  altogether — 
every  individual  one  has  got  a  like  share  in  the  father's 
property,  and  that  he  thought  alike  tenderly  of  them  all ; 
— then  they  see  that  he  loved  them  all  equally ;  that  he 
wished  them  all  equally  well : — and  then,  my  friends, — if 
we  were  these  children,  and  if  we  all  of  us  had  obtained 
this  inheritance  in  the  father's  house,  should  we  not,  all 
of  us,  love  this  father  and  understand  his  love  for  us  and 
ohey  his  commands  ?  " 

"  Yes  !  yes  !  Oh,  yes  !  Glory  !  Glory  !  Amen  !  " 
shouted  the  assembly  with  beaming  glances  and  evident 
delight. 

The  speaker  continued  in  his  good-tempered,  naive 
manner,  and  described  to  them  the  happy  life  and  death 
of  a  pious  Christian,  a  true  child  of  God.  He  himself, 
the  speaker,  had  been  the  witness  of  such  a  man's  death, 
and  although  this  man  was  a  sailor,  without  superior 
education,  and  though  he  made  use  of  the  expressions 
which  belonged  to  his  calling,  yet  they  testified  of  so  clear 
a  spiritual  life,  that  even  now,  after  his  death,  they  might 
testify  of  it  before  this  assembly.  The  man  had  been 
long  ill  of  fever,  which  had  deprived  him  of  consciousness. 
He  appeared  to  be  dying,  and  his  relations  stood  round 
his  bed  believing  that  they  should  never  more  hear  his 
voice,  and  waiting  merely  for  his  last  sigh,  for  he  lay  as 
if  in  a  sleep  of  death.  But  all  at  once,  he  opened  his 
eyes,  raised  his  head,  and  cried,  in  a  strong  joyful  voice, 
"  Land  a-head  !  "  After  that  his  head  sank  down,  and 
they  thought  it  was  all  over  with  him.  But  again  he 
looked  up  and  cried,  "  Turn,  and  let  go  the  anchor  !  " 
Again  he  was  silent,  and  they  believed  he  would  be  so  for 
ever.  Yet  once  more  however  he  looked  up  brightly  and 
said,  with  calm  assurance,  "  All's  well ! "  And  then  he 
was  at  peace. 

"Amen!  Amen!  Glory  and  glory!"  cried  the 
assembly,  and  never  did  I  see  such  an  expression  of  joy 


322  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  rapture  as  I  then  saw  beaming  from  the  countenances 
of  these  children  of  Africa  :  the  class-leaders  in  particular 
were  regularly  beside  themselves ;  they  clapped  their 
hands,  laughed,  and  floods  of  light  streamed  from  their 
eyes.  Some  of  these  countenances  are  impressed  upon 
my  memory  as  some  of  the  most  expressive  and  the  most 
full  of  feeling  that  I  ever  saw.  Why  do  not  the  painters 
of  the  New  World  avail  themselves  of  such  scenes  and 
such  countenances  ?  The  delight  occasioned  by  the 
speaker's  narrative  would  here  and  there  have  produced 
convulsions,  had  not  Mr.  Martin,  the  principal  preacher  of 
the  assembly,  indicated,  by  the  movements  of  his  hand 
from  his  pulpit,  its  discontinuance,  and  immediately  the 
increasingly  excited  utterance  ceased.  Already  during  the 
night  had  he  warned  the  people  against  these  convulsive 
outbreaks,  as  being  wrong,  and  disturbing  both  to  them 
selves  and  others.  The  Wesleyan  preacher  left  the  pulpit 
amid  continued  expressions  of  delight  from  the  people. 

The  principal  sermon  of  the  day  was  preached  about 
eleven  o'clock  by  a  lawyer  from  one  of  the  neighbouring 
States,  a  tall,  thin  gentleman,  with  strongly  marked  keen 
features,  and  deep-set  brilliant  eyes.  He  preached  about 
the  Last  Judgment,  and  described  in  a  most  lively  manner, 
"  the  fork-like,  cloven  flames,  the  thunder,  the  general 
destruction  of  all  things,"  and  described  it  as  possibly 
near  at  hand.  "  As  yet,  indeed,"  exclaimed  he,  "  I  have 
not  felt  the  earth  tremble  under  my  feet ;  it  yet  seems  to 
stand  firm,"  and  he  stamped  vehemently  on  the  pulpit 
floor ;  "  and  as  yet  I  hear  not  the  rolling  of  the  thunder  of 
doom ;  but  it  may  nevertheless  be  at  hand,"  and  so  on  ; 
and  he  admonished  the  people  therefore  immediately  to 
repent  and  be  converted. 

Spite  of  the  strength  of  the  subject,  and  spite  of  the 
power  in  the  delineation,  there  was  a  something  dry  and 
soulless  in  the  manner  in  which  it  was  presented,  which 
caused  it  to  fail  of  its  effect  with  the  congregation.  People 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  323 

seemed  to  feel  that  the  preacher  did  not  believe,  or  rather 
did  not  livingly  feel,  that  which  he  described  and  preached. 
A  few  cries  and  groans  were  heard  it  is  true,  and  some 
sinners  came  forth  ;  but  the  assembly  upon  the  whole 
continued  calm,  and  was  not  agitated  by  the  thunders  of 
the  Last  Judgment.  The  hymns  were,  as  on  the  former 
occasion,  fervent  and  beautiful  on  the  side  of  the  negroes' 
camp.  This  people  seem  to  have  a  keen  perception  of 
the  most  beautiful  doctrines  of  religion,  and  understand 
particularly  well  how  to  apply  them.  Their  musical 
talents  are  remarkable.  Most  of  the  blacks  have  beautiful, 
pure  voices,  and  sing  as  easily  as  we  whites  talk. 

After  this  service  came  the  hour  of  dinner,  when  I 
visited  various  tents  in  the  black  camp,  and  saw  tables 
covered  with  dishes  of  all  kind  of  meat,  with  puddings 
and  tarts  ;  there  seemed  to  be  a  regular  superfluity  of  meat 
and  drink.  Several  of  the  tents  were  even  furnished 
like  rooms,  with  capital  beds,  looking-glasses,  and  such 
like. 

The  people  seemed  gay,  happy,  and  gentle.  These 
religious  camp-meetings — my  little  heart,  thou  hast  now 
been  at  a  camp  meeting ! — are  the  saturnalia  of  the  negro- 
slaves.  In  these  they  luxuriate  both  soul  and  body,  as  is 
their  natural  inclination  to  do ;  but  on  this  occasion  every 
thing  was  carried  on  with  decency  and  befitting  reverence. 
These  meetings  have  of  late  years  greatly  improved  in 
moral  character,  and  masters  allow  their  servants  and 
slaves  to  be  present  at  them,  partly  for  pleasure,  and  partly 
because  they  are  often  productive  of  good  results.  I  did 
not  observe  the  slightest  circumstance  which  was  repug 
nant  to  my  feelings  or  unbecoming,  except,  if  people  will, 
the  convulsive  excitement.  I  had  some  conversation  on 
this  subject  with  the  leader  of  the  meeting,  the  amiable 
and  agreeable  Mr.  Martin,  the  Methodist  preacher,  and 
he  disapproved  of  it,  as  I  had  already  heard.  These 
excited  utterances  however,  said  he,  appear  to  belong  to 

Y  2 


324  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  impulsive  negro  temperament,  and  these  sudden  con 
versions,  the  result  of  a  moment  of  excitement,  have  this 
good  result,  that  such  converts  commonly  unite  them 
selves  to  churches  and  ministers,  become  members  of  a 
so-called  class,  and  thus  obtain  regular  instruction  in  the 
doctrines  of  religion,  learn  hymns  and  prayers,  and  become 
generally  from  that  time  good  Christians  and  orderly 
members  of  society. 

In  the  great  West,  as  well  as  here  in  the  South,  and  in 
all  places  where  society  is  as  yet  uncultivated,  it  is  the 
Methodists  and  the  Baptists  who  first  break  the  religious 
ground,  working  upon  the  feelings  and  the  senses  of  these 
children  of  nature.  Afterwards  come  the  Calvinists, 
Lutherans,  and  many  others,  who  speak  rather  to  the 
understanding.  Missionaries  who  assemble  the  people 
and  talk  to  them  under  God's  free  heaven,  who  know  how 
to  avail  themselves  of  every  circumstance  presented  by 
the  time,  the  scenery  around  them,  and  their  own  free 
positions,  are  likely  to  produce  the  most  powerful  results ; 
and  I  have  heard  extraordinary  instances  related  of  their 
influence  over  the  masses,  and  of  the  contagious  effect 
of  that  excitement  of  mind  which  frequently  occurs  on 
these  occasions.  These  camp  meetings  continue  from 
three  to  seven  days.  The  one  at  which  we  were  present 
was  to  break  up  on  the  following  day,  and  it  was  expected 
that  a  great  number  of  conversions  would  take  place  on 
the  following  night.  Nevertheless  this  seemed  to  depend 
upon  casual  circumstances,  and  probably  more  than  any 
thing  else,  upon — a  preacher  whose  sermon  had  that 
tendency. 

We  spent  yet  a  few  hours  in  observing  the  spiritual 
and  physical  occurrences  of  the  camp,  wandering  in  the 
wood  and  botanising.  Mr.  K.  gathered  for  me  many  new 
flowers,  among  which  was  a  small  very  pretty  little  yellow 
flower,  called  the  saffron-flower. 

At  five  in  the  afternoon  we  returned  to  Charleston  by  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  325 

train  which  conveyed  certainly  two  thousand  persons,  two- 
thirds  of  them  blacks.  They  sang  the  whole  way,  and 
were  in  high  spirits. 

The  next  morning,  with  a  little  basket  of  bananas  and 
sponge-cake,  which  my  kind  hostess  and  friend  Mrs. 
W.  H.  provided  for  me,  I  was  on  my  way  to  Savannah. 
She  herself  accompanied  me  on  board  the  steam-boat, 
and  would  willingly  have  accompanied  me  the  whole 
journey  :  and  how  willingly  would  I  have  had  her  with  me  ! 
She  is  one  of  the  persons  with  whom  I  can  get  on 
extremely  well.  But  I  set  off  alone,  with  her  fruit  and  a 
bouquet  of  flowers  from  Mrs.  Holbrook.  Yet  I  was  not 
alone,  for  my  heart  was  full  of  many  tilings.  The  day 
was  glorious,  and  the  vessel  steamed  up  the  Savannah, 
which,  with  a  thousand  windings,  flows  between  verdant 
shores,  which,  though  flat,  are  ornamented  with  charming 
woods  and  plantations,  with  their  large  mansions  and 
pretty  little  slave  villages,  so  that  the  whole  was  like  a 
refreshing  pleasure  trip.  True,  the  slave  villages  are  not 
a  gladdening  sight,  but  I  have  hitherto  seen  far  more 
happy  than  unhappy  slaves,  and  therefore  I  have  not 
as  yet  a  gloomy  impression  of  their  condition  here. 

The  crew  of  this  little  steamboat  consisted  merely  of 
slaves,  blacks,  and  mulattoes.  The  captain  told  me 
that  they  were  very  happy,  as  well  as  faithful  and 
clever. 

"  That  man,"  said  he,  indicating  with  his  glance  an 
elderly  man,  a  mulatto,  with  a  remarkably  handsome,  but 
as  it  seemed  to  me,  melancholy  countenance,  "  is  my 
favourite  servant,  and  I  need  wish  for  no  other  as  care 
taker  and  friend  by  my  death-bed." 

The  crew  appeared  to  be  well  fed  and  cared  for.  A 
handsome  and  fat  mulatto  woman  said  to  me,  in  an  under 
tone,  when  we  were  alone, — 

"  What  do  you  say  about  the  institution  of  slavery  here 
in  the  South  ?  " 


326  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  I  think,"  replied  I,  "  that  the  slaves  in  general  appear 
happy  and  well  cared  for." 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  she,  "it  may  seem,  but — "  and  she 
gave  a  very  significant  glance,  as  if  to  say,  "  All  is  not  gold 
that  glitters." 

"  You  do  not  consider  them  to  be  well  treated,  then  ?  " 
asked  I. 

"  Some  are,  certainly,"  said  she,  "  but — "  and  again  she 
gave  a  significant  glance. 

I  could  have  wished  that  she  had  said  more,  but  as  she 
belonged  to  the  vessel  I  could  not  ask  any  questions.  I 
would  not  become  a  spy ;  that  is  against  my  nature,  and 
anything  which  I  could  not  become  acquainted  with  by  my 
own  experience,  or  by  my  own  direct  ability,  that — I  would 
not  know.  Scarcely  in  any  case  could  the  mulatto  woman 
have  told  me  anything  which  I  did  not  already  know :  there 
are  good  and  there  are  bad  masters  ;  happy  and  unhappy 
slaves ;  and  the  institution  is — a  great  lie  in  the  life  of 
human  freedom,  and  especially  in  the  New  World. 

There  were  on  board  the  steamer,  some  persons  with 
whom  I  was  acquainted,  among  them  Miss  Mary  P., 
a  lively,  intelligent  young  girl  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  who  was  spending  the  winter  in  Savannah  on  account 
of  her  health.  She  had  a  pulmonary  affection,  and 
suffered  greatly  from  the  winters  of  the  Northern  States  ; 
but  with  the  southern  air,  especially  the  air  of  Savannah, 
and  homoeopathic  treatment,  she  was  recovering.  I 
associated  with  people  as  little  as  possible  ;  enjoyed  the 
silence  and  the  river-journey,  the  beautiful  day,  the  quiet 
delicious  scenery,  so  unlike  the  occurrences  of  the  pre 
ceding  day.  When  the  sun  went  down,  and  the  evening 
suddenly  became  dusk — as  is  always  the  case  in  these 
latitudes,  I  saw  a  clear  white  light  ascend  from  the 
southern  heavens  to  the  zenith.  They  told  me  it  was  the 
zodiacal  light.  It  was  not  flashing,  coloured  and  brilliant, 
as  our  northern  lights  are  most  frequently,  but  calm,  soft 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  327 

and  clear.  A  grave,  elderly  gentleman,  in  whose  company 
I  contemplated  the  starry  heavens  on  the  upper  deck,  told 
me  that  later  on  in  the  summer  the  southern  cross  might 
be  perceived  on  the  horizon,  as  well  as  the  uppermost  star 
in  the  ship  Argo.  Thus  you  see  that  new  lights  and  new 
constellations  now  rise  above  my  head !  I  bid  them 
welcome ! 

In  the  deep  twilight  came  a  boat  rowing  up  to  the 
steamer.  Several  blacks  and  one  white  man  were  in  the 
boat.  The  white  man  came  on  board  after  taking  a 
friendly  leave  of  the  blacks,  a  voice  from  among  whom 
cried  after  him,  — "  Don't  forget  yourself  long  away, 
massa  !  "  "  No  !  no  !  "  cried  massa  back  to  them. 

At  about  half  past  eleven  we  reached  Savannah.  I 
accompanied  Miss  P.,  her  sister,  and  a  young  agreeable 
physician,  to  the  largest  hotel  in  the  city,  the  Palasky 
House  :  so  called  from  the  Polish  hero  of  that  name,  who 
fought  and  fell  in  the  American  War  of  Independence, 
and  whose  monument,  a  handsome,  white  marble  obelisk, 
stands  upon  a  green  spot  of  ground  before  the  hotel, 
surrounded  by  splendid  trees. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning  I  was  in  a  railway 
carriage  on  my  way  to  Ma9on,  a  long  and  very  wearisome 
day's  journey,  especially  in  the  great  heat,  and  with  the 
smoke  and  steam  which  filled  the  carriages.  The  road 
lay  through  a  barren,  sandy  extent  cf  country,  overgrown 
with  pine-forest,  and  almost  entirely  without  human 
habitations,  excepting  011  the  railway  stations,  where 
small  colonies  began  to  form  themselves,  trades  were 
followed,  and  the  meagre  soil  cultivated.  At  a  few  of 
these  I  alighted,  and  botanised  in  the  wood,  where  I  found 
several  yellow  orchises. 

The  amusement  of  the  journey  was  in  the  carriage  in 
which  I  sate,  from  a  fat,  jolly-looking  gentleman,  in  a  cap 
and  grey  coat,  in  person  not  unlike  a  mealsack,  upon 
which  the  head  was  set,  round  and  moveable  as  a  top,  and 


328  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

who  talked  politics,  and  poured  out  his  vials  of  wrath 
against  the  late  Tom  Jefferson,  President,  and  author  of 
the  "  Declaration  of  Independence :  "  called  him,  in  a 
loud  voice,  the  worst  of  names,  always  turning  himself  as 
he  did  so  to  a  tall,  very  thin  military  man,  of  a  noble 
appearance,  who  sate  on  the  other  side  of  the  carriage, 
and  who  seemed  to  be  half  amused  by  the  fat  man's 
ebullitions,  although  he  endeavoured  to  appease  them. 
But  it  was  like  pouring  oil  upon  fire. 

"  Sir  !"  exclaimed  our  fat  gentleman,  with  a  stentorian 
voice,  on  one  occasion,  while  the  train  stood  still,  "  Sir,  I 
say  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  Tom  Jefferson,  the  whole 
union  would  be  five  hundred  years  farther  advanced,  and 
Carolina  at  least  a  thousand  !  " 

"  Oh !  do  you  think  so  ?  "  said  the  other,  smiling. 

"  Yes,  I  say  that  Tom  Jefferson  was  the  worst  man  who 
has  yet  been  placed  at  the  head  of  a  nation ;  he  has  done 
more  mischief  than  all  the  Presidents  after  him  can  do 
good  ! " 

"  Yet  he  drew  up  our  Act  of  Independence  !  "  said  the 
thin  gentleman. 

"  He  stole  it,  sir  !  "  exclaimed  the  fat  one  ;  "  he  stole  it, 
stole  it!  I  can  prove  to  you  that  he  did.  There  is,"  &c. 
And  here  followed  proofs  and  many  observations  and 
replies  between  the  two  gentlemen,  which  I  could  not 
exactly  follow. 

At  length,  up  sprung  the  fat  gentleman,  and  grasping 
with  both  hands  at  two  seats,  stood  before  the  thin  one 
exclaiming, — 

"  Sir !  I  regard  Tom  Jefferson  as  the  compound  of 
everything  which  is  rascally,  mean,  wicked,  dishonourable 
— &c.  &c.  &c.  &c.— "  the  great  flood  of  accusation  con 
tinuing  certainly  for  three  minutes,  and  ending  with,  "  yes, 
that  is  what  I  say,  sir  !  " 

'  That  is  strong  language,  sir ! "  said  the  other,  still 
calm,  and  half  smiling. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  329 

"  Sir !  "  again  exclaimed  the  other,  "  Tom  Jefferson 
was  the  cause  of  my  father  losing  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
through  the  embargo  !  " 

With  these  words  he  reseated  himself,  red  in  the  face  as 
a  turkey-cock,  and  with  an  air  as  if  to  say,  that  after  that 
nothing  could  be  said.  A  smile  was  on  almost  every 
countenance  in  the  railway  carriage ;  and  when  Tom 
Jefferson's  enemy  almost  immediately  after  took  his 
departure,  the  thin  gentleman  turned  to  me,  saying  in  his 
good-tempered  calm  way, — 

"  That  settles  it !  Jefferson  was  certainly  a  bad  man. 
But  in  any  case  he  was  a  patriot." 

A  hundred  young  men,  soldiers  from  Charleston,  tra 
velled  by  this  train,  on  a  visit  to  the  Georgia  militia  in 
Mac,on.  They  were  handsome,  pleasant-looking,  merry 
young  fellows,  who  got  out  at  every  station  to  refresh 
themselves,  and  then  hurried  in  again. 

A  couple  of  so-called  Indian  mounds,  that  is  ancient 
burial  hills  of  the  Indians,  and  which  resemble  our 
sepulchral  mounds,  excepting  that  they  are  larger  and 
flatter  at  the  top,  and  in  which  arms  and  weapons  are 
found,  were  the  only  remarkable  things  we  saw  on 
the  way. 

At  sunset  we  reached  MaQon.  The  country  had  now 
assumed  another  character ;  we  saw  verdant  hills  and 
valleys,  and  beautiful  white  country  houses  shining  out 
upon  the  hills  amid  their  gardens. 

On  all  hands  lay  lofty  trees ;  we  drove  over  a  couple  of 
small  rivers,  with  chocolate-hued  water,  and  wooded  banks ; 
the  city  lay,  as  it  were,  imbedded  in  wood.  It  looked 
young  and  romantic,  half  concealed  in  the  valley,  and  half 
stretching  itself  out  on  the  open  hills.  It  took  my  fancy ; 
I  was  glad  to  be  there,  and  had  besides  a  certain  pleasure 
in  finding  myself  here  alone  and  unknown,  and  able  to 
live  at  an  inn.  I  engaged  a  room  at  the  hotel, 
"Washington  House,"  where  I  found  a  remarkably 


330  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

handsome  and  kind  landlady ;  had  the  pleasure  of  washing 
off  the  dust,  putting  on  fresh  linen,  and  drinking  a  glass 
of  excellent  milk,  and  then  to  be  still,  and  contemplate 
the  life  and  movement  in  the  market-place,  the  largest  in 
the  city,  and  near  to  which  the  hotel  stood. 

Five  and  twenty  years  ago  the  ground  on  which  the 
city  stood,  and  the  whole  region  around,  was  Indian 
territory  and  Indian  hunting-ground.  Where  those  wild 
dances  were  danced,  and  their  wigwams  stood,  now  stands 
Ma9on,  with  six  thousand  inhabitants,  and  shops  and 
workshops,  hotels  and  houses,  and  an  annually  increasing 
population  ;  and  in  the  middle  of  its  great  market  stands 
Canova's  Hebe  in  a  fountain,  dispensing  water.  The 
young  militia  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  paraded  the  streets 
and  the  market-place  this  evening  by  moonlight.  All 
the  windows  were  open,  and  the  negro  people  poured 
out  of  the  houses  to  see  the  young  men  march  past  with 
their  music. 

I  was  up  early  the  next  morning,  because  it  was 
glorious ;  the  world  looked  young  and  fresh  as  morning, 
and  I  myself  felt  as  fresh  as  it.  I  went  out  on  a  voyage 
of  discovery  with  merely  a  couple  of  bananas  in  my  old 
man  (you  know  that  I  give  my  travelling-bag  that 
appellation).  All  was  as  yet  still  in  the  city ;  every 
thing  looked  fresh  and  new.  I  had  a  foretaste  of  the 
young  life  of  the  west.  The  pale  crescent  moon  sank 
slowly  amid  a  violet-tinted  mist,  which  wrapped  the 
horizon  in  the  west,  but  a  heaven  of  the  most  beautiful 
blue  was  above  me.  Trees  and  grass  glittered  with  dew 
in  the  rising  sunlight.  I  walked  along  streets  planted 
with  trees,  and,  leaving  the  city,  found  myself  upon  a 
broad  high  road,  on  each  side  of  which  lay  a  dense,  dark 
forest.  I  walked  on  ;  all  was  hushed  and  silent,  but  my 
heart  sang.  That  which  I  had  wished  for,  and  longed 
for  through  the  whole  of  my  youth  ;  that  which  I  seemed 
to  myself  to  be  more  excluded  from  than  anything  else,  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  331 

living  acquaintance  with  the  manifold  forms  of  life,  had 
now  become  mine,  had  become  so  in  an  unusual  degree. 
Did  I  not  now  wander  free — free  as  few  could  be,  in  the 
great,  free,  new  world,  free  to  see  and  to  become 
acquainted  \\ith  whatever  I  chose  ?  Was  I  not  free  and 
unfettered  as  a  bird  ?  My  soul  had  wings,  and  the  whole 
world  was  mine  !  Precisely  because  I  am  so  alone,  that 
I  go  so  solitarily,  relying  on  God's  providence,  through 
the  great  wide  world,  and  become  associate  with  it, — 
precisely  this  it  is  which  gives  me  such  an  unspeakable 
feeling  of  vigour  and  joy;  and  that  I  do  not  positively 
know  whither  I  would  go,  or  what  I  would  do  during  my 
solitary  wanderings ;  this  makes  me  ever  ready  to  set  out 
on  my  journeys  of  discovery,  and  every  thing  within  me  be 
so  particularly  new  and  invigorating. 

I  was  not,  however,  on  this  occasion,  wholly  without  an 
object;  I  knew  that  at  some  distance  from  Macon  there 
was  a  beautiful  new  cemetery,  called  Rose-hill  Cemetery, 
and  I  was  now  bent  upon  finding  it.  In  the  meantime  as 
the  road  which  I  had  taken  seemed  to  lead  down  to  the 
quiet  sea,  I  determined  to  make  inquiries  after  Rose-hill 
at  a  dwelling  which  I  saw  upon  a  height  not  far  from  the 
road.  It  was  one  of  those  white,  well-built,  and  comfort 
able  frame-houses  which  one  so  often  sees  in  the  rural 
districts  of  America.  I  knocked  at  the  door,  and  it  was 
opened,  but  by  a  person  who  almost  shocked  me ;  it  was 
a  young  lady,  tolerably  handsome,  but  with  an  appearance 
of  such  a  horridly  bad  temper  that — it  quite  troubled  me. 
She  looked  thoroughly  annoyed  and  worn  out,  and  bade 
me,  crossly  enough,  to  go  as  far  as  the  road  went,  or  till 
it  parted.  I  went,  almost  astonished  on  so  beautiful  a 
morning,  amid  such  beautiful,  youthfully  fresh  scenes,  to 
meet  with  so  perfectly  inharmonious  a  human  temper. 
Ah  !  human  feelings,  dispositions,  and  tempers  are  every 
where  the  same,  and  can  everywhere  embitter  life  ;  in 
every  new  paradise  can  close  the  gates  of  paradise.  But 


332  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

sad  impressions  could  not  long  remain  in  my  mind 
this  morning.  I  advanced  onward  along  the  high  road 
which  now  ascended  a  hill.  On  the  top  of  this  hill  I 
could  look  around  me  I  thought.  Arrived  here,  I  saw  an 
iron  gate  on  my  right  hand,  which  led  into  a  beautiful, 
well-kept  park.  I  opened  the  gate  without  any  difficulty, 
and  was  soon  in  a  very  beautiful  park,  the  ground  of 
which  was  undulating,  through  which  wound  roads  and 
foot-paths,  with  lofty  trees  and  groves  on  all  hands,  and 
beds  of  flowering,  fragrant  shrubs  and  plants.  It  was 
some  time  before  I  could  see  a  single  monument,  before  I 
discovered  that  I  really  was  in  the  place  consecrated  to 
death,  and  that  my  little  travelling- fairy  had  faithfully 
conducted  me  to  my  goal,  Rose  Cemetery. 

Wandering  on  through  the  silent  solitary  park  I  came  to 
the  banks  of  a  river  which  ran  in  gentle  windings  between 
banks  as  beautiful,  and  as  youthfully  verdant  as  we,  in  our 
youth,  imagine  the  Elysian  fields.  On  my  side  of  the 
river  I  beheld  white  marble  monuments  glancing  forth 
from  amid  the  trees,  speaking  of  the  city  of  the  dead. 
Tall  trees  here  and  there,  bent  over  the  water.  Large, 
splendid  butterflies,  the  names  of  which  I  did  not  know, 
flew  softly  with  fluttering  wings  backwards  and  forwards 
over  the  stream,  from  one  bank  to  the  other.  I  thought 
of  the  words  : — 

"  And  he  showed  me  a  clear  river  of  living  water,"  &c. 

And  the  whole  scene  was  to  me,  at  the  same  time,  a 
living  symbol  of  the  most  beautiful  presentiments  of  the 
human  race  regarding  the  mystery  of  death.  Here  was 
the  city  of  the  dead,  and  here,  beside  it,  living  water 
pouring  from  invisible  fountains,  whispering  in  the  fields 
of  death,  of  life  and  the  resurrection ;  here  were  trees, 
that  glorious  life  of  nature,  bearing  abundant  fruit,  and 
the  leaves  of  which  serve  for  the  "healing  of  the  heathen;" 
there,  on  the  other  shore,  were  the  fields  of  the  blessed, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  333 

where  no  weariness  and  no  woe  shall  ever  enter ;  where 
none  that  are  accursed  shall  come  any  more,  where  the 
light  of  God's  countenance  enlightens  all ;  and  the  butter- 
flies  represented  the  souls  which,  now  released  from 
earthly  enthralment,  are  borne  by  their  wings  from  the 
one  shore  to  the  other,  to  sip  all  the  flowers  of  the  field ! 

I  seated  myself  on  a  piece  of  rock  which  shot  out  into 
the  river  in  a  convenient  ledge -like  form,  and  beside 
which  grew  some  beautiful  wild  flowers.  And  here  I 
inhaled  deep  draughts  of  the  elixir  of  life,  which  both 
nature  and  the  spirit  presented  to  me.  More  glorious 
refreshment  could  not  have  been  offered  to  a  wanderer. 
And  much  such  have  I  received,  and  shall  yet  enjoy 
during  my  pilgrimage. 

I  have  often  thought  that  it  would  be  well  if  running 
water  could  be  included  or  introduced  into  large  ceme 
teries,  the  resting-places  of  the  dead,  as  a  symbol  at  once 
beautiful  and  appropriate.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  have 
I  seen  my  idea  carried  out.  The  river  in  this  cemetery 
is  Ocrnulgee,  an  Indian  word  for  the  beautiful.  It  is  of 
that  warm  red  tinge,  like  English  sepia,  or  chocolate 
mixed  with  milk,  which  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  nearly  all 
the  rivers  of  the  south,  from  the  Rio  Colorado,  in  New 
Mexico,  to  the  Savannah,  and  the  Pee-Dee,  and  others,  in 
the  east,  and  is  said  to  be  caused  by  the  reddish  sandy 
soil  peculiar  to  the  Southern  States.  This  tint  of  water 
produces  a  remarkably  beautiful  effect  in  contrast  with 
the  rich,  bright  green  vegetation  of  the  banks.  Ocmulgee 
is,  besides,  a  rapid  and  abundant  river,  and  is  in  all 
respects  deserving  of  its  name. 

As  my  spirit  had  not  by  any  means  failed  of  its  object, 
I  began  to  think  of  my  body  and  my  bananas,  on  which  I 
made  a  splendid  breakfast.  I  have  become  very  fond  of 
this  fruit,  which  is  very  beneficial  to  me.  I  can  eat  it  at 
any  time  of  the  day,  and  always  find  that  it  agrees  with 
me.  I  fancy  that  I  could  live  on  it  and  bread  alone ; 


834  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

(N.B.  Swedish  clap-bread,  I  miss  that  here.)  A  little 
lizard,  which  seemed  to  study  me  very  profoundly,  was 
my  companion  on  the  rock,  and  turned  its  little  head  this 
way  and  that,  with  its  glimmering  black  eyes  always  riveted 
upon  me.  Neither  man  nor  human  dwelling  were  within 
sight.  It  was  a  scene  of  the  profoundest  solitude. 

This  beautiful  morning  was  the  1st  of  May.  I  wonder 
what  sort  of  morning  it  was  in  the  park  at  Stockholm ! 

I  would  willingly  have  spent  a  day  in  MaQon  and  its 
beautiful  neighbourhood  ;  but  when  I  returned  to  my 
hotel,  I  was  met  by  an  agreeable  and  respectable  gentle 
man,  who  was  going  to  the  seminary  at  Montpellier,  to 
fetch  his  daughter  thence,  and  who  invited  me  to  accom 
pany  him.  As  I  did  not  know  whether  Bishop  Eliott 
was  aware  of  the  day  on  which  I  might  be  expected  at 
Magon,  and  as  I  wished,  besides  this,  to  spare  him  the 
trouble  of  sending  for  me,  there  being  neither  railroad 
nor  public  conveyance  to  Montpellier,  and  as  the  polite 
gentleman  seemed  to  be  very  agreeable;  I  gratefully 
accepted  his  offer,  begged  the  hostess  of  the  hotel  to 
take  charge  of  my  portmanteau,  and  soon  was  seated  most 
excellently  in  a  large,  comfortable,  and  spacious  covered 
carriage,  beside  my  kind  conductor.  We  had  not,  how 
ever,  driven  a  couple  of  hours  when  we  met  a  dusty 
travelling  carriage,  within  which  was  Professor  Sherbe, 
whom  I  had  met  at  Mr.  Emerson's,  at  Concord,  and  who 
was  now  a  teacher  at  the  seminary  in  Montpellier.  It 
was  the  carriage  to  fetch  me  to  the  Eliotts'.  I  therefore 
returned  with  him  to  Ma9on,  where  the  horses  rested,  and 
Sherbe  refreshed  himself  after  the  fatiguing  morning's 
journey.  The  after  part  of  the  day  we  spent  in  great  heat 
on  the  journey  to  Montpellier,  along  roads  of  which  you 
would  say,  "  ga  ria  pas  de  nom  !  "  and  the  description  of 
which  is  wearisome — I  continually  believed  we  should  be 
upset — and  over  bridges  which  looked  like  fabrics  simply 
designed  to  help  the  carriage  and  the  people  down  into 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  335 

the  rivers  over  which  they  were  scrambled  together — built 
I  cannot  say.  We  seemed  to  be  in  a  wild  and  newly- 
inclosed  country.  At  Bishop  Eliott's  lovely  country  seat 
all  was  again  cultivated  and  beautiful — a  continuation  of 
the  romantic  and  luxurious  district  around  Ma9on ;  and 
in  the  bishop  himself  I  became  acquainted  with  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  examples  of  that  old  cavalier  race 
which  gives  tone  and  stamp  to  the  nobler  life  of  the 
Southern  States.  Personal  beauty  and  dignity,  and  the 
most  agreeable  manners,  were  in  this  instance  ennobled 
by  great  Christian  earnestness. 

Bishop  E.  is  said  to  have  been  in  his  youth  a  great 
lover  of  social  life,  of  dancing,  and  ladies'  society,  and  to 
have  been  a  great  favourite  in  the  gay  world.  His  con 
version  to  religious  earnestness,  is  said  to  have  been 
rapid  and  decided.  He  is  now  known  as  one  of  the  most 
pre-eminently  religious  men  in  the  country ;  and  his 
kindness  and  amiability  win  all  hearts.  Mine  he  also 
won  ;  but  of  that  by  and  by. 

On  the  evening  of  my  arrival  I  sate  with  him  and  his 
family  on  the  piazza  in  front  of  his  house,  and  saw 
the  fireflies  shining  in  the  air,  among  the  trees  and  on 
the  grass  everywhere  in  the  park.  These  little  insects 
produce  an  effect  which  delights  me  during  the  dark 
evenings  and  nights  here.  They  are  small  beetles,  some 
what  larger,  and  certainly  longer,  than  our  wood-louse, 
and  they  emit  as  they  fly  along  a  bright  light,  quickly 
shining  out  and  then  again  extinguished,  like  a  lightning- 
flash,  but  soon  renewing  itself  again.  It  is  a  phosphoric 
light,  and  presents  an  incessant  display  of  fireworks  in 
the  air  and  on  the  earth  at  this  season.  If  these  little 
creatures  are  injured,  nay  even  trampled  upon,  as  I  have 
seen  happen  by  accident,  they  still  give  out  light,  and 
shine  beautifully  as  long  as  there  is  any  life  left  in  them. 
Their  light  is  never  utterly  extinguished  but  with  their  life, 
and  even  outlives  that  a  good  hour. 


336  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  bishop's  wife  is  an  agreeable  lady,  lively  and  intel 
lectual,  and  truly  musical,  playing  on  the  piano  as  the  bird 
sings,  and  who  seems  to  have  inherited  from  her  Indian 
foster-mother  an  unusual  degree  of  acuteness  and  per 
fection  of  organisation.  Her  husband  often  jokes  her  on 
this  subject.  The  family  consists  of  several  pretty 
children,  among  which  "  the  outlaw,"  the  youngest  son, 
a  lovely,  good,  little  lad,  who  leapt  about  unrestrained 
without  shoes  and  stockings,  was  my  especial  favourite. 

The  family  state  of  mind  was  not  at  this  moment 
cheerful,  from  various  causes,  and  the  good  bishop  was 
evidently  depressed.  How  agreeable  he  was,  nevertheless, 
during  the  few  hours  which  he  was  able  to  devote  to 
social  intercourse  and  conversation  !  In  him  I  found 
much  of  the  Emersonian  truth  and  beauty  of  mind,  both 
in  expression  and  manner,  without  any  of  his  critical 
severity,  and  permeated  by  the  spirit  of  Christian  love  as 
by  a  delicious  summer  air.  He  is  one  of  those  rare  men 
of  the  south  who  can  see,  with  a  clear  and  unprejudiced 
glance,  the  institution  of  slavery  on  its  dark  aspect.  He 
believes  in  its  ultimate  eradication  within  the  United 
States,  and  considers  that  this  will  be  effected  by 
Christianity. 

"  Already,"  said  he,  "  is  Christianity  labouring  to  elevate 
the  being  of  the  negro  population,  and  from  year  to  year 
their  condition  improves,  both  spiritually  and  physically ; 
they  will  soon  be  our  equals  as  regards  morals,  and  when 
they  become  our  equals,  they  can  no  longer  be  our  slaves. 
The  next  step  will  be  for  them  to  receive  wages  as 
servants;  and  I  know  several  persons  who  are  already 
treating  their  slaves  as  such." 

This  conversation  delighted  me,  for  I  am  convinced 
that  Eliott's  views  on  this  subject  are  correct. 

The  school  examination  was  already  nearly  over,  and  a 
great  number  of  the  young  girls,  the  flowers  of  the 
Southern  States,  had  left.  Still  I  saw  a  part  of  them,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  337 

heard  their  compositions  in  prose  and  verse.  Nearly  all 
the  teachers  were  from  the  Northern  States ;  mostly  from 
New  England,  and  mostly  also  young,  pretty,  and  agree 
able  girls.  All  were  assembled  at  the  house  of  the  bishop 
in  the  evening  of  the  concluding  day  of  the  examination. 
I  was  not  well  that  day,  partly  from  the  heat,  and  partly 
from  the  fear  I  have  of  company,  and  the  duties  which  it 
imposes  upon  me  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  heat  and  the 
company  I  was  roused  by  my  Scandinavian  spirit,  and 
proposed  the  game  of  "  lend  me  your  fire-stick,"  into 
which  all  the,  hitherto  stiff,  young  girls  entered  merrily, 
and  there  was  a  deal  of  laughter,  and  the  good  bishop 
himself  became  so  amused  that  he  laughed  heartily; 
and  when  we  rested  from  that  game,  he  himself  began 
another — a  quiet  and  intellectual  game,  in  which  his  clever 
little  wife  distinguished  herself,  as  did  he  also.  Thus 
passed  the  evening,  amid  games  and  merriment,  and  I 
forgot  the  heat  and  weariness  and  indisposition,  and  went 
lightly  and  cheerfully  to  rest,  glad  in  particular  that  I  had 
seen  the  good  bishop  cheerful. 

The  next  morning  I  was  to  set  off  with  Bishop  Eliott, 
and  two  of  the  young  girls.  We  assembled,  the  bishop's 
family  and  I,  to  morning  prayers.  But  how  deeply  was 
I  affected  this  morning,  when  after  the  customary  prayers 
(the  bishop  and  we  all,  as  usual,  kneeling),  I  heard  him 
utter  for  the  stranger  who  was  now  visiting  in  his  family,  a 
prayer  as  warm,  as  beautiful,  as  appropriate,  as  if  he  had 
read  the  depths  of  my  heart  and  knew  its  secret  combats, 
its  strivings,  its  object, — my  own  soul's  inmost  infinite 
prayer.  I  could  merely,  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  press  his 
hand  between  mine. 

Accompanied  by  him  and  the  two  young  ladies,  I  found 
myself  once  more  on  the  paths  of  the  wilderness  between 
Montpellier  and  Mac,on,  where  I  was  received  under  the 
roof  of  his  curate,  young  Mr.  S.,  and  his  handsome  young 
wife ;  for  the  bishop  would  not  permit  me  to  return  to 


338  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  hotel,  which  I  greatly  wished  to  do.  I  have  had, 
however,  beneath  the  yc-ung  oaks  near  the  curate's  house, 
a  conversation  with  him  on  the  trials  which  the  Christian 
may  experience  under  ordinary  circumstances,  in  the 
everyday  world,  which  I  shall  never  forget,  because  much 
that  had  occurred  in  my  own  soul  had  occurred  also  in 
his ;  and  I  saw  in  him  a  cross-bearer — but  one  greater 
and  more  patient  than  most.  On  the  following  day, 
which  was  Sunday,  he  preached  in  the  Episcopal  church 
of  Ma9on,  a  small  but  handsome  building,  in  which  some 
youthful  communicants  were  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper 
for  the  first  time.  Eliott's  sermon  had  reference  to  the 
occasion  ;  he  was  about  to  consecrate  them  to  the 
Christian  faith,  its  duties,  trials,  and  greatness ;  to  the 
crown  of  thorns  and  the  crown  of  glory ;  an  excellent 
sermon,  full  of  truth,  in  the  admonition  to  the  life  both 
human  and  divine.  Not  brilliant  and  dazzling,  not 
merely  half  true  aphorisms ;  but  the  purest  light,  shining 
because  it  was  pure  and  perfect,  and  because  it  con 
tained  the  whole  truth. 

After  divine  service  I  took  leave  of  the  noble  bishop, 
glad  to  have  become  acquainted  with  him,  and  in  him  a 
true  Christian  gentleman.  I  hope  to  see  him  again, 
probably  in  the  west,  whither  he  goes  this  autumn,  to  a 
great  assembly  of  the  clergy.  He  has  now  lately  returned 
from  an  official  journey  to  Florida,  up  the  beautiful  river 
St.  John,  and  speaks  of  the  exuberance  of  natural  life  on 
its  shores,  the  beauty  of  its  flowers  and  birds,  so  that  I 
have  a  great  desire  to  go  there.  I  parted  from  Eliott, 
grieving  that  human  sorrow  should  thus  depress  so  good, 
so  noble,  and  so  amiable  a  man. 

If  you  wish  to  see  upon  what  spot  of  all  the  globe 
I  am  now  to  be  found,  you  must  look  into  the  very  middle 
of  the  American  State  of  Georgia,  where  is  a  small  town 
by  the  name  of  Magon ;  and  near  to  it  a  pretty  village 
of  country  houses  and  gardens,  called  Vineville,  in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  339 

one  of  the  prettiest  of  which  I  may  be  found  with  the 
amiable  and  highly  esteemed  family  of  a  banker,  named 
M.,  who  came  up  to  me  in  the  church,  after  divine  service 
at  Macon,  and  invited  me  to  his  house. 

Everywhere  throughout  this  country,  in  the  south  as 
well  as  in  the  north  of  the  United  States,  do  I  meet  with 
the  same  cordiality,  the  same  incomparable  hospitality. 
And  my  little  travelling  fairy  goes  everywhere  with  me, 
and  makes  everything  happen  for  the  best;  and  should 
anything  go  contrary,  I  consider  that  is  for  the  best  also, 
and  doubt  not  but  it  is  so,  or  will  be.  The  morning  after 
to-morrow  I  intend  returning  to  Savannah ;  I  cannot  now 
extend  my  journey  farther  west,  into  Alabama,  as  I 
wished  to  do,  on  account  of  the  heat  of  the  season.  I  must 
contrive  to  reach  Washington  before  I  am  melted. 

The  8th. — When  do  I  think  of  going  home,  my  Agatha? 
Whenever  you  and  mamma  wish  it — next  month,  next 
week,  in  the  morning !  My  own  wishes,  it  is  true,  have 
been  for  some  time  a  little  expansive ;  but  they  can  be 
restrained.  I  have,  however,  wished  to  remain  in  this 
hemisphere  through  another  winter,  that  I  might  see  certain 
portions  of  it  and  certain  things  which  otherwise  I  cannot 
see,  and  thus  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  tropical  glory  in 
Cuba.  I  wish  to  leave  certain  impressions  time  to 
mature;  certain  old  ones  time  to  fall  off  under  the 
influence  of  the  New  World.  The  indisposition  under 
which  I  suffered  last  winter  has  deprived  me  of  at 
least  three  months,  for  during  that  time  I  was  merely 
half  alive,  often  merely  in  a  state  of  suffering.  But  as  I 
have  said,  my  child,  this  is  a  floating  wish  ready  to  be 
done  away  with  on  the  least  call  from  home;  and  in 
that  case  we  shall  see  each  other  next  autumn.  No 
feeling  of  inward  necessity  like  that  which  bade  me  come 
hither,  bids  me  now  remain  here  over  the  winter.  And 
my  wish  to  stay  here  will,  on  the  first  earnest  call  of  my 
beloved  ones,  dissolve  into  that  of  returning  to  them ;  and 

z2 


340  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  shall  in  that  case  consider  it  as  for  the  best.     Merely 

one  word  from  you  and  mamma,  and I  hasten  home 

to  you  ! 


LETTEE  XV. 

MA90N,  VINEVILLE,  May  8th. 

MY  BELOVED  MAMMA, — It  grieves  me  much  to  know  that 
you  and  Agatha  have  had  a  more  than  usually  trying 
winter.  Thank  God,  however,  that  it  is  now  past,  and 
that  the  sunny  side  of  the  year  is  come  with  its  more 
cheerful  prospects.  The  baths  of  Marstand  will  do 
Agatha  good ;  but  we  shall  never  see  our  poor  little  friend 
strong  !  With  regard  to  the  wish  which  I  have  now 
expressed  to  Agatha,  I  can  merely  here  repeat  that  it 
will  not  be  difficult ;  and  that  I  am  ready  to  yield  it  to 
another  from  my  beloved  ones  at  home. 

How  well  and  happy  I  am  among  the  kind  people  in 
this  hospitable  country,  which  has  become  to  me  like  a 
vast  home,  mamma  has  already  seen  in  my  letters.  I  go 
from  home  to  home  in  America,  and  am  everywhere 
received  and  treated  like  a  child  of  the  house.  Besides 
the  excellent  effect  of  this,  as  regards  the  health  both  of 
soul  and  body,  it  affords  me  an  opportunity  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  domestic  life  and  the  homes  of  the 
New  World — with  the  innermost  life  of  this  hemisphere, 
in  a  manner  which  scarcely  any  other  traveller  ever 
enjoyed,  and  which  is  of  the  highest  consequence  to  me, 
because  it  is  precisely  that  which  I  wished  to  become 
familiar  with  here.  But  I  had  scarcely  any  idea  of  the 
degree  in  which  the  kindness  and  the  hospitality  of  this 
people  would  respond  to  this  wish.  Each  family,  if  it  is 
in  anything  like  easy  circumstances,  inhabits  an  entire 
house ;  and  has  besides,  generally,  a  little  garden,  or  at  all 
events  a  grass  plot.  The  house  has  one  or  two  parlours 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  341 

on  the  ground  floor,  besides  eating-room,  kitchen,  &c. 
All  the  chambers  are  in  the  upper  stories,  and  there  are 
always  one  or  two  (sometimes  more)  guest-chambers. 
The  guest-chamber,  in  an  American  house  in  the  city,  is 
the  same  thing  as  for  us,  in  Sweden,  to  have  a  guest- 
chamber  in  our  country-houses.  Every  house  here,  whether 
in  town  or  country,  must  have  its  room  in  which  to  lodge 
the  stranger.  And  now  if  a  stranger  comes  hither  from 
a  foreign  land,  quite  alone,  and  not  very  large  either, 
it  is  not  a  very  difficult  thing  to  lodge  her  in  the  guest- 
chamber;  and  in  this  way  the  whole  country  is  one 
great  home,  with  guest-chambers  for  mamma's  daughter. 
Finding  there  the  comforts  of  my  own  home,  finding  there 
motherly  mistresses  of  families ;  sisters  and  brothers  with 
whom  I  have  lived  and  conversed,  and  live  and  converse 
as  openly  and  familiarly  as  with  my  own  family — all  this 
has  made  me  feel  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  after 
all  so  far  from  earth,  at  least  not  from  the  homes  of  earth ; 
else  otherwise  how  should  one  be  able  to  keep  up  an 
intercourse  with  people  altogether  strangers,  as  unre 
servedly  and  as  delightfully  as  one  could  with  the  angels 
of  God  ? 

I  am  thus  now  writing  to  you  from  a  good,  beautiful, 
and  happy  home,  which  comprises  three  generations,  old 
Mr.  M.  and  his  wife,  still  handsome  and  active :  their 
only  son,  a  highly  esteemed  banker  of  Magon,  and  his 
gentle  and  motherly  wife  and  their  children.  The  whole 
family  is  remarkably  cordial,  earnest  and  pious,  as  I  often 
find  families  in  this  country  to  be,  and  in  the  practice  of 
morning  and  evening  devotion,  which  I  like  much,  although 
I  sometimes  think  that  the  prayers  are  too  long.  The  two 
eldest  daughters  are  handsome,  sweet  young  girls,  and 
sing  better  than  ladies  generally  do  in  this  country.  A 
quiet  sorrow  broods  over  the  family  from  the  late  decease 
of  a  dearly  beloved  daughter  and  sister,  whose  loss  seems 
especially  to  weigh  upon  the  mother's  heart. 


342  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  am  living  here  in  the  midst  of  a  large  garden,  in 
which  are  many  rare  plants,  and  I  hear  the  hundred- 
tongued  American  mocking  bird  every  morning  singing 
before  my  window.  It  is  very  agreeable  to  hear,  but  more 
singular  than  charming,  and  not  to  compare  with  our  larks 
and  nightingales,  any  more  than  the  singing  voices  here 
are  to  be  compared  with  those  of  Sweden.  Every  land 
has  its  own. 

There  are  various  features  of  family  life  here  which  I 
wish  were  more  general  with  us.  To  these  belong 
family  worship  morning  and  evening  and  the  simple  prayer 
with  which  the  meal  is  generally  sanctified  by  the  father 
or  mother  of  the  family,  "  O  God,  bless  these  Thy  gifts  to 
our  profit,  and  us  to  Thy  service  ! " 

With  us  it  is  usually  the  youngest  child  of  the  family 
that  says  grace  before  meals  if  it  is  said  aloud ;  and  this 
also  is  beautiful,  excepting  that  in  this  way  it  seldom  has, 
or  can  have  the  true  spirit  given  to  it.  Most  frequently, 
however,  our  form  of  grace  is  a  silent  inclination  of  the 
body,  but  the  thought  is  of  nothing  but  the  meal  before 
us.  On  the  contrary,  I  like  better  our  usages  at  table  than 
in  this  country.  With  us  people  can  enjoy  the  pleasures 
of  conversation,  and  they  need  not  think  about  the  dishes, 
except  in  so  far  as  enjoying  them  goes.  Everything,  with 
us,  is  done  silently  and  in  due  order  by  the  attendants. 
At  a  glance  from  the  hostess  you  are  offered  a  second 
supply,  but  this  also  silently ;  the  dishes  come  round  to 
the  guests,  each  in  his  turn,  and  after  that  people  are  not 
troubled  with  them.  Here  it  is  not  so.  Here  there  is 
an  incessant  asking  and  inviting,  so  that  what  with  asking 
and  inviting,  and  selecting  and  answering,  there  is  really 
no  time  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  meal,  much  less  of 
conversation.  Neither  is  one  able  to  help  oneself;  but 
the  host  or  hostess,  or  aunt  or  uncle,  or  some  other 
polite  person,  or  it  may  be  the  servants,  which  here  in 
the  south  are  always  negroes,  help  you,  and  you  seldom 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  343 

get  just  what  you  wish  for,  or  as  much  or  as  little  as  you 
want,  and  not  on  that  part  of  the  plate  where  you  wish  to 
have  it.  You  are  asked,  for  example — 

"  Will  you  have  butter  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  thank  you." 

And  with  that  comes  a  piece  of  butter  on  the  edge  of 
the  plate,  on  which  the  annoying  thought  always  suggests 
itself,  that  it  is  certainly  exactly  where  the  servant  put  his 
thumb.  Then  it  goes  on  : — 

"  Will  you  take  fish  or  meat  ?  Chicken  or  turkey  ?  " 

"  Chicken,  if  you  please." 

"  Have  you  any  choice  ?     The  breast,  or  a  wing  ?  " 

Then  comes,  "  Will  you  have  pickles  ?  " 

"  No,  I  thank  you." 

A  pause  and  calm  ensues  for  two  minutes.  But  then 
somebody  on  your  left  discovers  that  you  have  no  pickles ; 
and  pickles  come  to  you  from  the  left.  "  May  I  help  you 
to  pickles  ?  " 

"No,  I  thank  you." 

After  a  few  minutes  more  somebody  on  the  right  sees 
that  you  have  no  pickles,  and  hastens  to  offer  you  the 
bottle.  "  Will  you  not  take  pickles  ?  " 

"No,  I  thank  you." 

You  then  begin  an  interesting  conversation  with  your 
next  neighbour ;  and,  just  as  you  are  about  to  ask  some 
question  of  importance,  a  person  opposite  you  observes  that 
you  are  not  eating  pickles,  and  the  pickle-bottle  comes  to 
you  across  the  table,  and  you  are  called  upon  to  say  once 
more  in  self -justification — 

"No,  I  thank  you;  not  any," — and  continue  your 
conversation. 

But  again,  at  the  moment  you  are  waiting  for  some  reply, 
interesting  to  you,  comes  the  servant,  perhaps  the  very 
best  daddy  in  the  whole  black  world,  and  shoots  the 
pickle-bottle  in  between  you  and  your  conversible  neigh 
bour,  and  with  horror  you  again  behold  pickles  ready  to 


344  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOELD. 

be  put   upon  your  plate,  so   that  in   the    end  you  find 
yourself  quite  overcome  by  the  pickle  persecution. 

Thus  goes  on  the  meal ;  one  incessant  bustle  of  serving, 
which  takes  from  you  all  enjoyment  of  the  food.  I  have 
at  last  a  regular  palpitation  of  the  heart  from  disquiet 
and  impatience ;  but  that  is  in  great  measure  my  own 
fault — the  fault  of  my  weakness,  though  something  must 
be  allowed  to  the  fault  of  the  custom  here,  which  is  not 
quite  in  harmony  with  the  higher  pleasures  of  social 
intercourse.  This  custom  however  did  not  originate  in 
this  country.  It  belongs  to  England,  and  must  be  put 
down  to  the  account  of  England.  Our  mode  of  taking 
our  meals  and  our  customs  at  table  are  more  like  those 
of  France;  and  for  this  I  commend  us.  In  one  par 
ticular,  however,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  homes  of  the 
new  world  excel  those  of  all  other  countries,  excepting 
of  England,  with  which  they  have  a  close  connection,  and 
that  is  in  cleanliness.  Our  very  best  homes  in  Sweden 
are  in  this  respect  seldom  so  admirable  as  is  usually  the 
case  here.  For  all  here  is  kept  neat  and  clean,  from  the 
bed-rooms  to  the  kitchen,  and  the  servants  have  the  same 
smartness  and  neatness  of  attire,  the  same  suavity  of 
manner  as  the  lady  and  daughters  of  the  house.  An 
American  house  and  home  is  in  many  respects  the  ideal 
of  a  home,  if  I  except  the  apparatus  for  warming  their 
houses  in  the  Northern  States.  Everything  is  to  be  found 
there  which  can  make  existence  fresh,  and  comfortable, 
and  agreeable,  from  the  bath-room  to  the  little  garden,  in 
the  town  as  well  as  in  the  country,  with  its  trees,  even  if 
they  be  but  few,  its  beautiful  grass-plot  and  plants,  which 
are  frequently  trained  on  trellises  on  the  walls,  whence 
their  flowers,  wafted  by  the  wind,  diffuse  their  fragrance 
through  the  windows.  And  if  here  the  mistress  of  the 
house,  especially  in  the  south,  has  lighter  domestic  cares 
than  our  ladies,  as  regards  housekeeping  (for  fresh  meat 
and  vegetables  may  be  had  every  day  at  all  seasons  in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  345 

this  country,  where  the  year  may  be  reckoned  by 
summers,  not  by  winters,  as  with  us,  and  which  compels 
us  to  dry  and  salt  and  lay  in  stores  during  the  living 
portion  of  the  year,  in  preparation  for  the  dead),  yet  has 
she  much  to  look  after  and  to  provide  for,  so  that  house 
and  home  may  be  supplied  with,  not  merely  the  material 
things,  but  with  those  that  shall  beautify  it,  and  this  more 
especially  in  the  Southern  States  where  all  the  domestics 
are  of  the  negro  race,  which  is  by  nature  careless  and 
deficient  in  neatness.  I  admire  what  I  saw  of  the 
southern  ladies  and  mistresses  of  families.  The  young 
girls,  on  the  contrary,  I  should  like  to  see  a  little  more 
active  in  the  house,  and  more  helpful  to  their  mothers  in 
various  ways.  But  it  is  not  the  custom ;  and  the  parents, 
from  mistaken  kindness,  seem  not  to  wish  their  daughters 
to  do  anything  except  amuse  themselves,  and  enjoy  liberty 
and  life  as  much  as  possible.  I  believe  that  they  would 
be  happier  if  they  made  themselves  more  useful.  The 
family  relationship  between  parents  and  children  seems 
to  me  particularly  beautiful,  especially  as  regards  the 
parents  towards  the  children.  The  beautiful,  maternal 
instinct  is  inborn  in  the  American  women,  at  least  in  all 
its  fervent,  heart-felt  sentiment ;  and  better,  more  affec 
tionate,  family-fathers  than  the  men  of  America  I  have 
seen  nowhere  in  the  world.  They  have  in  particular  a 
charming  weakness  for — daughters.  And  God  bless  them 
for  it !  I  hope  the  daughters  may  know  how  to  return  it 
with  interest. 

Now  must  I  bid  mamma  adieu,  as  I  am  going  out  with 
the  family  here  to  visit  some  ancient  Indian  graves; 
Indian  mounds  as  they  are  called.  They  are  a  sort  of 
barrows,  now  overgrown  with  trees,  and  are  the  sole 
memorials  which  remain  here  of  the  original  inhabitants 
of  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  the  names  which 
they  gave  to  rivers  and  mountains,  and  which,  for  the 
most  part,  are  still  retained.  These  names  are  symbolic, 


346  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  are  generally  melodious  in  sound.  It  is  not  more 
than  twenty  years  since  the  last  Indian  tribes  in  Georgia 
were  driven  thence  by  an  armed  foree ;  and  I  have  heard 
eye-witnesses  relate  the  scene,  how  on  the  morning  when 
they  were  compelled  to  leave  their  huts,  their  smoking 
hearths,  their  graves,  and  were  driven  away,  men,  women, 
and  children,  as  a  defenceless  herd,  the  air  was  filled  with 
their  cry  of  lamentation  !  Now  no  Indians  are  to  be  met 
with  in  Georgia  or  Carolina,  though  in  Alabama,  the 
farthest  state  west,  may  still  be  found  tribes  of  Choctas 
and  Chickasas  Indians.  Lively  pic-nics  are  now  held  on 
these  ancient  Indian  mounds. 

I  have  for  two  nights  in  succession  dreamed  most 
livingly  that  mamma  was  here — was  come  to  America  to 
see  me.  I  was  very  glad  of  it,  but  at  the  same  time 
much  surprised,  because  Agatha  was  not  with  her,  and  I 
thought  in  my  dream,  it  is  impossible  that  mamma 
could  leave  Agatha  alone  ;  "  it  must  be  a  dream  !  "  And 
a  dream,  and  a  foolish  dream  it  was,  certainly,  my  sweet 
mamma,  but  I  should  be  very  glad  that  one  part  of  it 
were  true,  namely,  that  I  saw  you  looking  so  well  and 
so  happy.  If  I  could  only  see  that,  then  would  I  have 
the  joy  of  embracing  mamma,  not  in  sleep  and  in  a 
dream,  but  in  wakeful  reality  ! 

To-morrow  I  set  off  for  Savannah. 

Savannah,  May  llth. — And  here  I  now  am,  sweet 
mamma,  after  an  affectionate  parting  from  the  amiable 
family  in  Vineville,  whom  I  was  sorry  to  leave.  I  got 
rid  of  a  head-ache,  as  soon  as  possible,  last  evening, 
after  the  fatiguing  day's  journey  by  railway,  in  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  the  smoke  and  the  steam,  during  which  my 
little  basket  of  bananas  was  my  only  comfort  and  support. 
Long  live  the  banana ! 

To-day  I  have  received  visits  and  flowers — among  the 
latter  a  magnolia  grandiflora,  a  magnificent  flower,  as 
noble  as  it  is  beautiful,  a  child  of  primeval  light — and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  347 

among  the  former  one  from  a  piquant  young  lady,  who  was 
herself  married  at  fourteen  years  of  age — she  is  now  only 
seventeen,  but  looks  as  if  she  were  twenty — and  who  will 
carry  me  off  this  afternoon  on  a  promenade  to  Bona- 
ventura — some  romantic  spot.  Her  dark  romantic  eyes 
have  something  quite  interesting  in  them. 

Later.- — I  have  had  a   visit  from  the  greatest 

autograph  collector  in  the  world,  Mr.  T.,  who  kindly 
invited  me  to  his  house  and  home  at  Savannah!  and 
here  comes  now  my  Swiss  professor,  and  will  talk  to 
me  of  poetry  and  religion,  and  the  spirit  of  things ; 
and  now  it  is  dinner-time  and  I  must  think  about  my 
body,  and  therefore  I  must  make  an  end  of  all.  But 
first  a  kiss — on  the  paper  and  in  spirit  to  my  beloved ! 


LETTER  XVI. 

SAVANNAH,  May  Uth,  1850. 

"  The  greatest  autograph-collector  in  the  world  "  is 
also  the  most  friendly,  the  best-hearted  man  in  the  world, 
and  so  kind  to  me  that  I  shall  always  think  of  him 
with  gratitude.  His  collection  of  autographs  is  the 
first  which  I  have  ever  been  able  to  examine  with 
interest  and  respect.  Not  because  it  occupies  many 
folios  and  has  a  whole  room  appropriated  to  it,  and 
could  not  be  fully  examined  in  less  than  six  or  seven 
months,  which  certainly  might  inspire  respect;  but 
because  a  portrait  is  appended  to  the  handwriting  of 
each  distinguished  person,  mostly  an  excellent  copper 
plate  engraving,  together  with  some  letter  or  interesting 
document  belonging  to  the  history  of  that  individual. 
All  this  gives  to  the  autograph  collection  of  Mr.  T.  a 
real  historical  or  biographical  interest. 

His  house  is  one  of  those   excellent,    agreeable   ones 


348  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

which  I  described  in  my  former  letter.  His  kind,  little 
wife,  two  younger  sons,  and  the  young  wife  of  the  eldest 
son,  constitute  the  family  ;  a  quiet,  kind,  hospitable  family, 
over  which  death  however  has  lately  cast  its  shadow.  Here 
too  the  mothers  have  sorrowed  most;  and  here  sorrow  two 
mothers — the  elder,  her  eldest,  grown-up  son;  the  younger, 
her  little  boy,  both  lately  deceased ! 

Savannah  is  the  most  charming  of  cities,  and  reminds 
me  of  "the  maiden  in  the  greenwood."  It  is,  even  more 
than  Charleston,  an  assemblage  of  villas  which  have  come 
together  for  company.  In  each  quarter  is  a  green  market 
place  surrounded  with  magnificent,  lofty  trees ;  and  in  the 
centre  of  each  verdant  market-place  leaps  up  a  living  foun 
tain,  a  spring  of  fresh  water  gushing  forth,  shining  in  the 
sun  and  keeping  the  green  sward  moist  and  cool.  Savannah 
might  be  called  the  city  of  the  gushing  springs ;  there 
cannot  be,  in  the  whole  world,  a  more  beautiful  city  than 
Savannah !  Now,  however,  it  is  too  warm ;  there  is  too 
much  sand  and  too  little  water.  But  I  like  Savannah. 
I  find  here  a  more  vigorous  spiritual  life,  a  more  free 
and  unprejudiced  looking  at  things  and  circumstances, 
in  particular  at  the  great  question  of  slavery,  than  in 
Charleston,  and  I  have  here  become  acquainted  with  some 
excellent,  true  people — people  who  will  look  the  question 
directly  and  fairly  in  the  face;  who,  themselves  slave 
holders  from  the  more  remote  times,  are  yet  labouring  for 
the  instruction  of  the  slave,  for  emancipation  and  free 
colonisation.  Ah,  Agatha !  I  have  felt  on  this  occasion 
like  a  weary  and  thirsty  wanderer  of  the  desert,  who  has 
arrived,  all  at  once,  at  a  verdant  oasis  where  palms  wave 
and  fresh  waters  spring  forth,  and  I  have  watered  with 
tears  of  joy  the  flowers  of  freedom  on  the  soil  of 
slavery.  For  I  suffered  greatly  at  first  in  society, 
from  the  endeavours  of  many  people  to  thrust  upon  me 
their  contracted  views,  and  from  a  want  of  honesty,  if  not 
in  the  intention,  yet  in  the  point  of  view  from  which  they 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  349 

regarded  slavery.  One  evening,  however,  when  I  was 
more  than  usually  annoyed  and  quite  disconcerted  by  the 
observations  of  the  people  who  came  to  see  me,  I  found 
my — deliverance. 

But  I  must  give  the  history  in  the  form  which  it  has 
assumed  in  my  memory. 

DIFFERENT  IMPRESSIONS. 

I  was  in  company 
With  men  and  women, 
And  heard  small  talk 
Of  little  things, 
Of  poor  pursuits, 
And  narrow  feelings, 
And  narrow  views 
Of  narrow  minds. 
I  rushed  out 
To  breathe  more  freely, 
To  look  on  nature. 

The  evening  star 
Rose  pure  and  bright, 
The  western  sky 
Was  flushed  with  light, 
The  crescent  moon 
Shone  sweetly  down 
Amid  the  shadows 
Of  the  town. 
Where  whispering  trees 
And  fragrant  flowers 
Stood  hushed  in  silent 
Fragrant  bowers. 
All  was  romance, 
All  loveliness, 
Wrapped  in  a  trance 
Of  mystic  bliss. 
I  looked  on 
In  bitterness, 
And  sighed  and  asked, 
Why  the  great  Lord 
Made  such  rich  beauty 
For  such  a  race 
Of  little  men  ? 

I  was  in  company 
With  men  and  women ; 


350  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  heard  noble  talk 
Of  noble  things, 
Of  manly  doings, 
And  manly  suffering, 
And  man's  heart  beating 
For  all  mankind. 

The  evening  star 

Seemed  now  less  bright ; 

The  western  sky 

Of  paler  light.' 

All  nature's  beauty  and  romance — 

The  realm  of  Pan — 

Retired  at  once, 

A  shadow  but  to  that  of  Man  ! 

Since  then  my  world  here  has  changed,  as  well  as  my 
feelings,  towards  the  southern  life  and  people.  My  mental 
vision  has  become  clear,  so  that  I  can  perceive  a  nohle 
South  in  the  South,  even  as  its  own  hills  arise  and  enable 
me  to  breathe  across  its  plain  of  sand,  the  invigorating 
atmosphere  of  the  hills,  and  which  will  yet  become  to  the 
people  of  the  south  that  which  Moses  and  Joseph  were  to 
the  children  of  Israel.  For  when  people  speak  of  the 
slave  race  of  the  south,  it  is  a  mistake  merely  to  imply  the 
blacks.  And  it  is  also  unjust  to  think  of  the  people  of 
the  Southern  States  as  a  population  of  slaves  and  slave 
owners.  Of  a  truth,  there  exists  a  free  people  even  in  the 
Southern  slave  states,  who  are  silently  labouring  in  the 
work  of  emancipation.  And  though  they  may  be  but  a 
small  number — "  doubt  not,  little  flock,  for  it  is  your 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom !  " 

It  appears  to  me  probable,  from  what  I  have  seen  and 
heard,  that  Georgia  will  become  one  of  the  leading  powers 
in  this  advancing  work  of  emancipation.  Georgia,  the 
youngest  of  the  first  thirteen  states  of  the  Union,  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  in  the  work  of  American 
independence,  and  the  spirit  of  freedom  has  been  power 
ful  here  from  the  beginning. 

All  nations  preserve  traces  of  their  origin,  and  receive 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  351 

a  certain  stamp  from  the  men  and  the  circumstances  which 
determine  the  character  of  their  youthful  minds.  This 
is  quite  natural.  And  it  is  easy  to  see  a  cause  for  the 
more  free  and  fresh  spirit  which  prevails  in  Georgia  if  we 
reflect  upon  the  character  of  the  first  founder  of  the  State, 
James  Oglethorpe,  and  the  colony  which  grew  up  under 
his  protection. 

I  must  tell  you  something  about  this  man,  whose  history 
I  have  lately  read,  and  of  his  work,  because  among  so 
much  which  is  here  incomplete,  halting,  imperfect,  from 
which  the  eye  turns  away  dissatisfied,  it  is  a  refreshment 
to  fix  it  upon  a  human  life  which  will  stand  the  test, 
which  pursued  one  great  purpose  from  the  commence 
ment  to  the  close  of  its  working- day,  laboured  for  it  and 
brought  it  to  a  successful  issue  ;  upon  a  man  whose  sole 
object  in  life  was  to  liberate  the  captive,  to  make  the 
unfortunate  happy,  and  who,  for  this  purpose,  founded 
a  state  ! 

It  is  not  much  more  than  a  hundred  years  since  James 
Oglethorpe  came  to  this  country  at  the  head  of  a  little 
band  of  emigrants,  and  pitched  his  tent  upon  the  high 
ground  between  the  river  Savannah  and  the  sea,  where 
now  stands  the  city  of  Savannah.  He  was  an  English 
man,  and  had  spent  a  richly  diversified  life  at  the 
University,  in  the  army,  and  as  a  member  of  parliament. 
A  man  of  heroic  character,  with  a  heart  full  of  benevolence 
and  energy,  he  was  the  first  who  sought  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  of  debtors,  which  at  that  time  were  extreme  in 
England  ;  these  unfortunate  men  being  often  immured  in 
prison  for  life  on  account  of  the  smallest  debt.  As  a 
commissioner  for  the  inspection  of  jails  he  obtained  the 
liberation  of  great  numbers,  and  then  sought  out  for 
them,  as  well  as  for  persecuted  Protestants,  an  asylum,  a 
home  of  freedom  in  the  free  lands  of  the  New  World, 
where  poverty  should  not  be  opprobium ;  where  true  piety 
might  freely  worship  God  in  its  own  way. 


352  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  find  in  England  men  who 
could  take  an  interest  in  a  grand  scheme  for  human 
happiness.  A  society  was  organised  for  the  carrying  out 
of  Oglethorpe's  plan,  which  became  realised  by  a  grant 
from  George  II.  of  the  land  which  lay  between  the 
Savannah  and  Alatamaha,  from  the  head-springs  of  those 
rivers  due  west  of  the  Pacific,  and  which  was  placed  for 
twenty  one  years  under  the  guardianship  of  a  corporation 
"  in  trust  for  the  poor."  The  common  seal  of  the  corpora 
tion  bore  on  one  side  a  group  of  silk-worms  at  their 
labour,  with  the  motto  non  sibi  sed  aliis — not  for  themselves, 
but  for  others — thereby  expressive  of  the  disinterested 
intention  of  the  originators,  who  would  not  receive  for  their 
labours  any  temporal  advantage  or  emolument  whatever. 
On  the  reverse  side  was  represented  the  genius  of 
Georgia,  with  a  cap  of  liberty  on  her  head,  a  spear  in  the 
one  hand,  and  a  horn  of  plenty  in  the  other.  The  reported 
wealth  and  beauty  of  this  land  of  promise  awoke  the  most 
brilliant  hopes  for  the  future. 

Oglethorpe  sailed  from  England  in  November,  1732, 
with  his  little  band  of  liberated  captives  and  oppressed 
Protestants,  amounting  in  number  to  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  persons,  and  after  a  voyage  of  fifty-seven  days 
reached  Charleston.  Immediately  after  his  arrival  in  the 
New  World,  he  proceeded  up  the  Savannah  river,  and 
landed  on  a  high  bluff,  which  he  at  once  selected  as  the 
site  of  his  capital,  and  where  Savannah  now  stands.  At 
the  distance  of  half  a  mile  dwelt  the  Yamacraw  tribe  of 
Indians,  who  with  their  chief  Tomo- chichi  at  their  head, 
sought  alliance  with  the  strangers. 

"  Here  is  a  little  present,"  said  the  red  men,  stretching 
out  before  him  a  buffalo-hide,  painted  on  the  inner  side 
with  an  eagle's  head  and  feathers.  "  The  eagle's  feathers 
are  soft,  and  betoken  love.  The  buffalo's  hide  is  warm, 
and  betokens  protection.  Therefore  love  and  protect  our 
little  families  ! " 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  353 

Oglethorpe  received  with  kindness  these  friendly 
demonstrations. 

It  was  on  the  first  clay  of  February  when  the  little 
band  of  colonists  pitched  their  tents  on  the  banks  of  the 
river.  Oglethorpe's  tent  stood  beneath  four  tall  pine 
trees,  and  for  twelve  months  he  had  no  other  shelter. 
Here  in  this  beautiful  region  was  the  town  of  Savannah 
laid  out,  according  as  it  stands  at  the  present  day,  with 
its  regular  streets  and  large  square  in  each  quarter  of  the 
town,  whilst  through  the  primeval  woods  a  road  was 
formed  to  the  great  garden  by  the  river-side,  which  was 
soon  to  become  a  nursery-ground  for  European  fruits  and 
the  wonderful  natural  products  of  America. 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Georgia.  The  province  became  already  in  its  infancy  an 
as3rlum  for  the  oppressed  and  suffering,  not  only  among 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  Europe  itself.  The 
fame  of  this  asylum  in  the  wilderness  rang  through 
Europe.  The  Moravian  brethren,  persecuted  in  their 
native  land,  received  an  invitation  from  England,  of  a  free 
passage  to  Georgia  for  them  and  for  their  children, 
provisions  for  a  whole  season,  a  grant  of  land  to  be  held 
free  for  ten  years,  with  all  the  privileges  and  rights  of 
native  English  citizens,  and  the  freedom  to  worship  God 
in  their  own  way;  this  invitation  they  joyfully  accepted. 

On  the  last  day  of  October,  in  the  year  1733,  with  their 
Bibles  and  hymn  books,  with  their  covered  wagons,  in  which 
were  conveyed  their  aged  and  their  little  children,  and  one 
wagon  containing  their  few  worldly  goods,  the  little 
Evangelical  band  set  forth  in  the  name  of  God,  after 
prayers  and  benedictions,  on  their  long  pilgrimage.  They 
sailed  up  the  stately  Rhine  between  its  vineyards  and 
ruined  castles,  and  thence,  forth  upon  the  great  sea  in 
the  depth  of  winter.  When  they  lost  sight  of  land,  and 
the  majesty  of  ocean  was  revealed  to  them,  they  burst 
forth  into  a  hymn  of  praise.  When  the  sea  was  calm  and 


354  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  sun  rose  in  its  splendour,  they  sang  "  how  beautiful  is 
creation  ;  how  glorious  the  Creator  !  "  When  the  wind 
was  adverse  they  put  up  prayers, — when  it  changed, 
thanksgivings.  When  they  sailed  smoothly  with  a  favour 
ing  gale,  they  made  holy  covenants  like  Jacob  of  old ;  when 
the  storm  raged  so  that  not  a  sail  could  be  set,  they  lifted 
up  their  voices  in  prayer  and  sang  amid  the  storm,  for 
"  to  love  the  Lord  Jesus  gave  great  consolation." 

Thus  arrived  they  at  the  shore  of  the  New  World. 
Oglethorpe  met  them  at  Charleston  and  bade  them  wel 
come  ;  and  five  days  afterwards  the  far  wayfarers  pitched 
their  tents  near  Savannah.  Their  place  of  residence  was 
to  be  yet  farther  up  the  country.  Oglethorpe  provided 
them  with  horses,  and  accompanied  them  through  the 
wilderness,  through  forest  and  morass.  By  the  aid  of 
Indian  guides  and  blazed  trees,  they  proceeded  onward 
till  they  had  found  a  suitable  spot  for  their  settlement: 
it  was  on  the  banks  of  a  little  stream,  and  they  called  it 
Ebenezer.  There  they  built  their  dwellings,  and  there 
they  resolved  to  erect  a  column  in  token  of  the  providence 
of  God,  which  had  brought  them  safely  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth. 

The  same  year  was  the  town  of  Augusta  founded,  which 
became  a  favourite  place  of  resort  for  the  Indian  traders. 
The  fame  of  Oglethorpe  extended  through  the  wilderness, 
and  in  May  came  the  chiefs  of  the  eight  tribes  of  the 
Muskhogees  to  make  an  alliance  with  him.  Long  King, 
the  tall,  old  chief  of  the  Oconas,  was  the  spokesman  for 
the  eight. 

"The  Great  Spirit  which *  dwells  everywhere  around 
us,"  said  he,  "  and  who  gave  breath  to  all  men,  has  sent 
the  Englishmen  to  instruct  us."  He  then  bade  them 
welcome  to  the  country  south  of  the  Savannah,  as  well  as 
to  the  cultivation  of  such  lands  as  their  people  had  not 
used ;  and  in  token  of  the  sincerity  of  his  words,  he  laid 
eight  bundles  of  buckskins  at  the  feet  of  Oglethorpe. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  355 

The  chief  of  the  Coweta  tribe  arose  and  said,  "  We  are 
come  five-ancl-twenty  da}rs'  journey  to  see  you.  I  have 
never  desired  to  go  down  to  Charleston,  lest  I  should  die 
by  the  way :  but  when  I  heard  that  you  were  come,  and 
that  you  are  good  men,  I  came  down  to  you  that  I  might 
hear  good  things."  He  then  gave  the  European  exiles 
leave  to  summon  such  of  their  kindred  as  loved  them  out 
of  the  Creek  towns,  so  that  they  might  live  together. 
"  Kecal,"  added  he,  "  the  Yamassees,  that  they  may  be 
buried  at  peace  among  their  forefathers,  and  that  they 
may  see  their  graves  before  they  die." 

A  Cherokee  appeared  among  the  English  ;  "  Fear 
nothing,"  said  Oglethorpe,  "  but  speak  freely." 

"  I  always  speak  freely,"  replied  the  mountain -chief. 
"  Wherefore  should  I  be  afraid  ?  I  am  now  among 
friends ;  I  feared  not  when  I  was  among  enemies."  And 
the  settlers  and  the  Cherokees  became  friends. 

A  Chocta-chief,  "  Red- Shoes,"  came  the  following  year, 
and  proposed  to  trade,  "  We  come  from  a  great  distance," 
said  he,  "  and  we  are  a  great  nation.  The  French  built 
forts  amongst  us.  We  have  long  traded  with  them,  but 
they  are  poor  in  goods ;  we  desire  that  a  trade  may  be 
opened  between  you  and  us." 

The  good  faith  which  Oglethorpe  kept  in  his  trans 
actions  with  the  Indians,  his  noble  demeanour  and 
bearing,  the  sweetness  of  his  temper,  won  for  him  the 
confidence  of  the  Red-men.  He  was  pleased  with  their 
simple  manners  and  customs,  and  endeavoured  to  enlighten 
their  minds,  and  to  instruct  them  in  the  knowledge  of 
that  God  whom  they  ignorantly  worshipped. 

Oglethorpe  framed  laws  for  Georgia ;  one  of  which  for 
bade  the  introduction  of  intoxicating  liquors,  another  the 
introduction  of  slavery.  "  Slavery,"  said  Oglethorpe,  "  is 
contrary  to  the  gospel,  as  well  as  to  the  fundamental  law 
of  England.  We  will  not  permit  a  law  which  allows 
such  horrid  crime."  And  when,  later,  various  of  "the 

AA2 


356  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

better  class "  of  people  endeavoured  to  introduce  negro 
slaves,  Ogletliorpe  resolutely  opposed  it;  declared  that 
if  slaves  were  introduced  into  Georgia,  he  would  no 
longer  concern  himself  with  the  colony.  He  continued 
stedfast,  enforcing  his  determination  by  his  almost  arbi 
trary  power,  although  many  of  the  planters,  in  the  belief 
that  they  could  not  successfully  cultivate  the  land  with 
white  labourers,  threatened  to  leave  the  colony. 

Ogletliorpe  continued  with  unabated  activity  to  labour 
for  the  well-being  and  prosperity  of  Georgia,  extending 
and  securing  its  boundaries,  establishing  towns,  and  regu 
lating  the  commonwealth.  He  visited  the  Evangelical 
brethren  at  Ebenezer,  laid  out  the  streets  for  their  new 
town,  and  praised  their  good  management.  Within  a  few 
years  the  product  of  raw  silk  within  this  little  colony  had 
increased  to  ten  thousand  pounds  weight  yearly,  beside 
which  indigo  had  become  a  staple  article  of  traffic.  In 
the  most  earnest  manner  these  colonists  opposed  the  use 
of  negro-slaves,  maintaining  that  the  whites  could,  equally 
well,  labour  under  the  sun  of  Georgia.  Their  religion 
united  them  with  each  other ;  they  settled  their  disputes 
among  themselves.  Every  occurrence  in  life  became 
significant  of  a  divine  providence,  and  the  fervency  of 
their  worship  disturbed  not  the  calmness  of  their  judg 
ment.  They  had  peace,  and  were  happy. 

From  the  Moravian  towns,  Oglethorpe  journeyed  south 
ward,  passing  through  the  narrow  inland  channels  where 
the  shores  were  covered  by  woods  of  pine,  evergreen  oaks 
and  cedars,  which  grew  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
which  resounded  with  the  melody  of  birds.  On  St. 
Simon's  island,  fire  having  cleared  the  grass  from  an  old 
Indian  field,  the  streets  of  Frederica  were  laid  out,  and, 
amid  the  carolling  of  hundreds  of  birds,  a  fort  was  con 
structed  on  a  bluff  commanding  the  river. 

The  highlands  of  Scotland  had  already  sent  a  company 
of  bold  mountaineers,  who  sought  for  a  home  under 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  357 

Oglethorpe's  banner;  and,  now  attired  in  the  Highland 
costume,  Oglethorpe  sailed  up  the  Alatamaha  to  visit 
them  at  Darien,  where  they  had  taken  up  their  quarters. 
By  the  help  of  these  hrave  men,  Oglethorpe  determined 
to  extend  the  boundaries  of  Georgia  as  far  as  St.  John's 
river  in  Florida ;  and  the  Indians  of  the  Coweta-tribe 
hearing  the  rumour  of  war,  sent  forth  their  gaily-painted 
warriors,  to  wield  the  hatchet  in  aid  of  Oglethorpe.  Long 
speeches  and  exchange  of  presents  were  followed  by  the 
wild  war-dance ;  and  the  Muskhogees  and  the  Cherokees 
gathered  around  him  to  renew  their  former  friendly 
alliance. 

A  great  council  of  the  Muskhogee  chiefs  was  held  at 
Cusitas  on  the  Chattahouchee  ;  and  Oglethorpe  making 
his  way  by  solitary  paths,  fearless  of  the  noonday  heat 
or  the  dews  of  night,  or  of  the  treachery  of  hireling 
Indians,  came  to  this  great  assembly  to  talk  to  his  red 
friends, — to  distribute  presents,  to  drink  the  sacred  saf  key 
with  the  Creek  warriors,  to  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace,  and 
to  conclude  a  firm  alliance  with  them  in  war  or  in  peace. 

In  1734,  Oglethorpe  made  a  voyage  to  England,  and 
won  universal  favour  for  his  young  colony.  In  the  year 
1736  he  returned,  taking  with  him  three  hundred  emi 
grants,  whom  he  cared  for  like  a  father ;  and  having 
reached  land,  he  ascended  with  them  a  rising  ground,  not 
far  by  Tj^bee  island,  where  they  all  fell  on  their  knees  and 
returned  thanks  to  God,  for  having  safely  conducted  them 
to  Georgia.  Among  these  was  a  second  company  of 
Moravians,  men  who  had  "  a  faith  above  fear,"  and  who 
in  the  simplicity  of  their  lives  seemed  to  revive  the 
primitive  Christian  communities  where  state  and  rank 
were  unknown,  but  where  Paul  the  tentmaker,  and  Peter 
the  fisherman,  presided  with  the  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit. 

With  this  company  came  John  and  Charles  Wesley; 
Charles,  the  secretary  of  Oglethorpe,  and  both  burning 


358  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

with  desire  to  become  apostles  of  Christ  among  the 
Indians,  and  to  live  in  the  New  "World  "  a  life  wholly 
and  entirely  consecrate  to  the  glory  of  God."  They 
desired  to  make  of  Georgia  a  religious  colony.  "  The  age 
in  which  religious  and  political  excitements  were  united 
was  passed,"  adds  Bancroft,  from  whose  "  History  of  the 
United  States  "  I  have  taken  the  above  narrative  ;  "  and 
with  the  period  of  commercial  influence  fanaticism  had  no 
sympathy.  Mystic  piety,  more  intense  by  its  aversion  to 
the  theories  of  the  eighteenth  century,  appeared  as  the 
rainbow ;  and  Wesley  was  as  the  sower,  who  comes  after 
the  clouds  have  been  lifted  up,  and  the  floods  have 
subsided,  and  scatters  his  seed  in  the  serene  hour  of 
peace." 

After  this  we  find  Oglethorpe  at  the  head  of  the  English 
army  in  the  war  with  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  and  here 
he  was  brave  and  victorious,  foremost  always  in  danger, 
sharing  with  the  common  soldier  all  the  hardships  of  the 
camp,  and  even  amid  all  the  excitements  of  war  regardful 
of  the  property  of  the  peaceable  inhabitants ;  and  in  victory 
humane  and  gentle  towards  his  captives.  In  July,  1742, 
Oglethorpe  ordered  a  general  thanksgiving  throughout 
Georgia,  for  the  re -establishment  of  peace. 

Thus  was  Georgia  colonised  and  defended ;  and  when 
its  founder  and  preserver,  James  Oglethorpe,  approached 
his  ninetieth  year,  he  was  able  to  look  back  to  a  good 
work,  to  a  flourishing  state — the  boundaries  of  which 
he  extended  and  established,  and  the  spiritual  and 
material  life  of  which  he  was  the  founder,  so  that  it 
well  merited  the  praise  that  was  given  to  it  in  England — 
"  never  has  a  colony  been  founded  on  a  more  true  or 
more  humane  plan." 

He  was  spoken  of,  even  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  as 
one  of  the  finest  figures  that  had  ever  been  seen ;  a  type  of 
venerable  old  age.  His  faculties  and  his  senses  were  as 
fresh  as  ever,  and  his  eye  as  bright :  on  all  occasions  he 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  359 

was  heroic,  romantic,  and  full  of  chivalric  politeness — the 
most  beautiful  impersonation  of  all  the  virtues  and  endow 
ments  which  distinguish  our  ideal  of  a  true  cavalier.  And 
so  warm  was  his  heart,  so  active  his  zeal  for  the  well- 
being  of  humanity,  it  mattered  not  of  what  race  or  nation, 
that  long  after  his  death  his  name  became  a  watchword 
for  vast  benevolence  of  heart. 

After  his  death,  many  of  his  high-minded  laws  were 
annulled  ;  intoxicating  liquors  were  introduced  into 
Georgia,  and,  by  degrees,  even  negro  slavery.  But  the 
spirit  of  freedom  and  hospitality  which  was  the  life  of 
Oglethorpe's  life,  which  was  the  animating  influence  of 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Georgia,  lives  still  in  Georgia.  I 
see  it,  I  hear  it,  I  feel  it.  And  the  emigration  hither 
from  the  Northern  States,  'and  in  particular  from  the 
states  of  New  England,  and  which  increases  more  and 
more,  and  which  has  exercised  an  influence  upon  the 
people  and  the  institutions,  are  to  me  a  proof  of  this,  and 
a  pledge  for  the  still  further  development  of  the  life  of 
freedom.  I  observe  this  also  in  the  more  free  and 
happier  life  of  the  negroes  in  Savannah;  in  the  per 
mission  which  is  given  them  there  to  have  their  own 
churches,  and  where  they  themselves  preach.  Besides 
this,  much  is  done  in  Georgia  for  the  instruction  of  the 
negro-slaves  in  Christianity,  for  their  emancipation,  and 
their  colonisation  at  Liberia,  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  And 
every  year  a  vessel  goes  thence  from  Savannah,  with 
coloured  emigrants  from  among  the  emancipated  slaves 
of  the  slave-states,  provided  with  the  necessaries  of  life, 
money,  and  furniture  for  their  dwellings.  I  have  seen 
various  letters  from  this  colony  written  by  the  emigrants 
themselves,  which  showed  the  good  understanding  which 
existed  between  them  and  the  mother- states,  and  various 
individuals  there,  in  particular,  through  their  religious 
associations.  For  each  religious  denomination  maintains 
its  connection  with  its  members  in  the  African  colony, 


360  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

which  is  for  the  rest  under  the  direction  of  its  own 
coloured  officials  and  ministers. 

The  more  I  see  of  these  coloured  people  the  more  is 
my  curiosity  and  my  interest  aroused,  not  that  I  see  among 
the  negroes  anything  great,  anything  which  makes  them 
superior  to  the  whites.  I  cannot  divest  my  mind  of  the  idea 
that  they  are,  and  must  remain,  inferior  as  regards  intel 
lectual  capacity.  But  they  have  peculiar  and  unusual  gifts. 
Their  moral  sense  is,  it  seems  to  me,  as  pure  and  delicate 
as  their  musical  perception ;  their  sensibility  is  acute  and 
warm,  and  their  good  temper  and  cheerful  disposition  are 
evidently  the  peculiar  gifts  of  nature,  or  more  correctly  gifts 
of  God.  And  though  they  may  not  have  shown  themselves 
original  in  creative  genius,  yet  there  is  in  their  way  of 
comprehending  and  applying  what  they  learn  a  really  new 
and  refreshing  originality :  that  may  be  heard  in  their 
peculiar  songs;  the  only  original  people's  songs  which 
the  New  World  possesses,  as  soft,  sweet,  and  joyous  as 
our  people's  songs  are  melancholy.  The  same  may  be 
observed  in  their  comprehension  of  the  Christian  doc 
trines,  and  their  application  of  them  to  daily  life. 

Last  Sunday  I  went  to  the  church  of  the  Baptist 
negroes  here  writh  Mr.  F.,  one  of  the  noble-minded 
and  active  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  who  resides 
in  Savannah,  and  who  has  shown  me  much  kindness. 
The  name  of  the  preacher  was  Bentley,  I  believe,  and 
he  was  perfectly  black.  He  spoke  extempore  with 
great  animation  and  ease.  The  subject  of  his  discourse 
was  the  appearance  of  the  Saviour  on  earth,  and  the 
purpose  for  which  he  came.  "  I  remember,"  said  he,  "  on 
one  occasion,  when  the  President  of  the  United  States 
came  to  Georgia,  and  to  our  town  of  Savannah — I  re 
member  what  an  ado  the  people  made,  and  how  they 
went  out  in  great  carriages  to  meet  him.  The  carriages 
were  decorated  very  grandly,  and  the  great  cannon  pealed 
forth  one  shot  after  another.  And  so  the  President  came 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  361 

into  the  town  in  a  grand,  beautiful  carriage,  and  drove 
to  the  best  house  in  the  whole  town,  and  that  was 
Mrs.  Scarborough's  house  !  And  when  he  came  there  he 
seated  himself  in  the  window.  But  a  cord  was  drawn 
around  the  house,  to  keep  us  negroes  and  other  poor  folks 
from  coming  too  near.  We  must  stand  outside,  and  only 
get  a  sight  of  the  President  as  he  sate  at  the  window.  But 
the  great  gentlemen  and  the  rich  folks,  they  went  freely 
up  the  steps  and  in  at  the  door,  and  shook  hands  with 
him.  Now,  did  Christ  come  in  this  way  ?  Did  he  come 
only  to  the  rich ;  did  he  shake  hands  only  with  them  ? 
No  !  Blessed  be  the  Lord  !  he  came  to  the  poor  !  He 
came  to  us,  and  for  our  sakes,  my  brothers  and  sisters  ! " 
"  Yes,  yes  !  Amen  !  He  came  to  us  !  Blessed  be  His 
name  !  Amen  !  Hallelujah  !  "  resounded  through  the 
chapel  for  a  good  minute  or  two ;  and  the  people  stamped 
with  their  feet,  and  laughed  and  cried,  with  countenances 
beaming  with  joy.  The  preacher  then  continued  to  tell 
how  Christ  proved  himself  to  be  the  messenger  of  the 
Highest.  "  Now  imagine,  my  friends,"  said  he,  "  that  we 
here  are  a  plantation  of  negro  labourers.  But  the  owner 
of  the  plantation  is  away ;  he  is  a  long,  long  way  off,  over 
the  sea  in  England,  and  the  negroes  on  the  plantation 
have  never  seen  his  face.  They  have  never  seen  the 
face  of  any  man  higher  than  the  overseer.  But  now 
they  hear  that  the  owner  of  the  plantation,  their  lord  and 
master,  is  coming  there.  And  they  are  very  curious  to 
see  him,  and  they  inquire  about  him  every  day.  One  day 
they  see  the  overseer  coming  and  with  him  another  gen 
tleman,  whom  they  have  never  seen  before.  But  his  dress 
is  not  so  good,  and  much  simpler  than  the  overseer's  ;  the 
overseer  has  a  fine,  buttoned  coat  on,  a  white  cravat,  a 
handsome  hat  on  his  head,  and  besides  that,  gloves  on  his 
hands.  The  strange  gentleman,  on  the  contrary,  has  no 
gloves  on,  and  is  dressed  in  quite  a  simple,  careless  way. 
And  if  the  negroes  had  not  known  the  overseer,  they 


Bdi  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

never  would  have  believed  that  this  was  the  master. 
They  see,  however,  that  the  strange  gentleman  gives 
orders  to  the  overseer  that  he  shall  send  one  negro  here 
and  another  there,  that  many  shall  be  called  to  him  and 
to  tin1  overseer,  ami  the  negroes  must  »K>  nil  th:it  h<<  wishes 
and  commands,  and  from  this  they  can  see  that  he  is  the 
master." 

How  living  and  excellent  is  this  representation  of 
negro-life  to  the  negroes,  drawn  as  it  is  fresh  from  their 
everyday  experience  ! 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  I  also  accompanied 
Mr.  F.  to  hear  another  negro  preacher.  This  was  an  old 
mulatto,  a  powerful,  handsome,  old  man,  who  had  acquired 
some  property,  and  who  was  greatly  looked  up  to  by  his 
people  ns  a  preacher  and  baptizer,  lit'  resembled  the 
whites  both  in  appearance  and  manner.  He  mentioned, 
during  his  discourse,  that  he  was  ninety-five  yews  old  ; 
and  he  related  his  religious  experience ;  his  spiritual 
afflictions,  and  agony,  which  were  so  extreme  as  to  drive 
him  almost  to  self-murder ;  and  lastly,  his  feelings  when 
the  comprehension  of  Christ,  and  salvation  through  Him 
became  clear  to  his  understanding.  "  The  whole  world 
became  changed  to  me,"  continued  he ;  "  everything 
seemed  as  if  new-born,  and  beaming  with  new  beauty. 
Even  the  companion  of  my  life,  my  wife,  seemed  to  me  to 
be  again  young,  and  shone  before  me  in  new  beauty,  and 
I  could  not  help  saying  to  her,  *  Of  a  truth,  my  wife,  I 
love  thee ! "  A  young  woman  on  the  bench  where  I  sate 
luMit  il,>wii,  almost  chi'keil  with  lau^h.ti-r.  1  hv«nt  il.uvu 
also,  but  to  shed  tears,  which  pleasure,  sympathy, 
my  own  life's  experience,  and  the  living,  child-like 
description,  so  faithful  to  nature,  had  called  forth ;  after 
the  sermon  Mr.  F.  and  I  shook  hands  with  the  powerful 
old  Andrew  Marshall. 

The  choir  in  the  gallery — negroes  and  negresses — 
sang  quartets,  as  correctly  and  beautifully  as  can  be 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  363 

imagined.  At  the  close  of  the  service  a  woman  came 
forth,  and,  kneeling  before  the  altar,  seemed  to  be  under 
great  distress  of  mind,  and  the  old  preacher  prayed  for 
her  in  her  sorrows  and  secret  grief,  a  beautiful  and  heart 
felt  prayer.  Thus  to  pray  in  the  chapel  for  the  afflicted 
seems  to  be  customary  among  the  Baptists  in  this 
country. 

May  15th. — It  is  now  very  warm  here,  and  the  heat  is 
enervating.  If  it  were  not  so  I  should  enjoy  myself  in 
Savannah,  in  the  family  where  I  am  staying ;  where  the 
master  and  mistress  as  well  as  the  domestics — negroes — 
seein  all  to  be  influenced  by  the  same  spirit  of  good 
temper  and  kindness,  and  where  I  have  made  some  very 
agreeable  acquaintance.  Among  those  whom  I  love 
most  are  a  family  named  M'L,  one  of  those  who  labour 
for  the  instruction  and  colonisation  of  the  slaves;  the 
daughters  themselves  instruct  the  little  negro  children  on 
their  father's  estate,  and  praised  very  much  their  facility 
of  learning ;  in  particular  they  seemed  to  have  pleasure 
in  pictures  and  stories,  and  easily  understood  them. 
This  gave  me  great  delight ;  and  what  a  beautiful  sphere 
of  action  is  opened  by  this  means  for  the  young  daughters 
of  the  south  !  But  I  fear  they  are  yet  few  who  embrace 
it.  I  have  arranged,  next  year,  to  take  a  pleasure  trip 
with  this  amiable  family  to  Florida,  where  they  have  a 
son  residing.  But  man  proposes,  and  God  disposes  ! 

There  are  many  beautiful  places  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Savannah,  on  the  high  banks  of  the  river,  and  the 
number  of  beautiful  trees  and  flowers  is  untold.  It 
delighted  me  to  hear  Swedish  family-names  in  many  of 
the  appellations  of  these,  and  thus  to  recognise  tokens  of 
LinnaBus ;  as  for  instance,  I  here  found  Kudbeckia, 
Lagerstromia,  a  very  pretty  shrub  with  pale  red  flowers, 
resembling  Tellandsia,  and  many  others.  The  kind  ladies 
here — and  I  have  become  acquainted  with  some  extraordi 
nary  women  among  them — drove  me  about  in  their  carriages 


384  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

to  see  the  places  and  forest  parks  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Bonaventura  is  a  natural  park,  and  is  one  of  the  remark 
able  features  of  the  place  and  the  south.  The  splendid 
live-oaks,  growing  in  groupes  and  avenues,  with  their 
long  hanging  moss,  form  on  all  sides  the  most  beautiful 
Gothic  arcades,  and  when  the  evening  sun  casts  his 
glowing  beams  through  these  deep,  gloomy  vistas,  the 
most  lovely  effects  are  produced.  The  young  artists  of 
America  ought  to  come  here  and  study  them. 

A  portion  of  this  beautiful  park  is  being  converted  into 
a  burial  ground,  and  white  marble  gravestones  raise  them 
selves  below  the  hanging  mosses  of  the  live-oaks.  This 
moss  vegetation  is  now  in  blossom  ;  the  blossom  is  a  small 
green  button-like  flower  of  the  pentandria  class,  with  a 
delicate  scent.  Other  magnificent  flowers  of  the  south, 
the  magnolia  grandiflora,  the  Cape  jasmin,  and  many 
others,  are  now  beginning  to  be  generally  in  bloom,  but 
the  scent  of  these  is  strong  and  too  powerful  for  my  taste. 
The  scent  of  the  woods  is  overpowering  and  not  whole 
some.  Ladies  of  delicate  complexions  become  flushed 
and  suffer  from  riding  through  the  woods  at  this  season. 
The  flowers  operate  upon  them  like  poison.  To  me  they 
appeared  suffocating.  What  odour  is  there  so  pleasant 
and  refreshing  as  that  of  our  fir-woods,  and  our  lilies  of 
the  valley? 

To-day,  when  I  went  out  alone  to  a  little  grove  in 
the  midst  of  the  plain  of  sand  near  the  town,  I  found 
an  abundance  of  the  most  beautiful  strawberries,  and 
wondered  how  it  could  be  that  the  negro  children  left 
them  in  peace.  I  gathered  and  tasted  them,  nay  I  did 
not  taste  them,  for  they  had  no  sign  of  taste.  They 
were  a  kind  of  spurious  strawberry.  Another  spurious 
beauty  in  the  green  fields  of  the  south  is  a  little,  low 
shrub,  a  kind  of  Cactus  which  is  very  common,  called 
"  the  prickly  pear,"  and  which  bears  a  beautiful  pale  yellow 
flower,  like  a  single  mallow,  but  which  is  full  of  an 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  365 

invisible  kind  of  minute  hooked  prickle,  and  after  gather 
ing  a  flower  it  is  many  days  before  you  can  free  your 
fingers  from  the  tiny  spines. 

One  beautiful  institution  which  I  visited  here  is  the 
asylum  for  the  orphan  children  of  all  nations  and  all 
religious  persuasions.  It  is  under  the  direction  of  ladies, 
also  of  various  nations  and  religious  opinions.  I  visited 
it  with  one  of  the  directresses,  who  was  a  Jewess,  and 
much  attached  to  her  peculiar  religious  doctrines,  which 
according  to  her  representation,  approached  those  of  the 
Christian  Unitarian.  The  asylum  was  under  the  care 
of  Catholic  Sisters  of  Mercy,  women  with  good  coun 
tenances,  but  horrible  bonnets  or  hooded  caps,  which 
would  require  a  person  to  be  very  far  gone  in  world  renun 
ciation  before  they  could  endure.  Both  the  children  and 
the  establishment  were  a  gladdening  sight.  The  children 
are  allowed  to  make  choice  of  the  religious  sect  to  which 
they  will  attach  themselves,  and  I  saw  three  young  sisters, 
one  of  whom  was  a  Methodist,  the  second  a  Baptist,  and 
the  third  a  member  of  the  episcopalian  church. 

I  must  now  prepare  to  leave  Savannah  and  go  to 
Augusta,  higher  up  in  the  State.  I  think  of  ascending 
the  river  from  Savannah,  although  I  am  told  that  the 
journey  is  wearisome,  and  the  scenery  monotonous.  But 
I  greatly  prefer  the  steam-boat  to  the  railway. 

I  shall  write  more  from  Augusta,  my  little  Agatha ! 

P.S.  When  I  come  home  I  shall  bring  you  lovely 
workbaskets,  made  from  the  scales  of  the  fir-cone,  and 
lined  inside  with  red  silk,  which  these  kind  ladies  have 
given  me,  and  which  are  their  own  work.  They  look 
queer,  but  very  ornamental. 


366  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


LETTEK  XVII. 

COLUMBIA,  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  May  25th. 

WHAT  a  long  time  it  is,  my  sweet  Agatha,  since  I  last 
conversed  with  you  !  but  days  and  hours  rush  on  like  the 
river,  and  I  have  not  many  minutes  to  myself. 

I  wrote  to  you  last  at  Savannah.  Soon  after  that  I 
left  the  city  overwhelmed  with  kindness  and  presents 
from  its  friendly  inhabitants  up  to  the  last  moment.  I  shall 
always  have  to  thank  my  host,  Mr.  T.,  for  his  heartfelt 
kindness  and  good-will  towards  me.  At  the  last  moment 
he  compelled  me  to  allow  him  to  pay  for  my  journey  to 
Augusta.  People  talk  about  the  Americans'  spirit  of 
acquisition,  and  with  justice ;  but  with  the  same  justice 
they  ought  to  speak  of  their  spirit  of  giving.  They  love 
to  give,  even  as  they  love  to  acquire. 

Just  as  I  was  about  to  go  on  board  there  came  a 
Swedish  sea-captain,  who  told  some  persons  of  my 
acquaintance  in  Savannah,  that  he  wished  to  see  me, 
because  he  was  brought  up  at  the  same  place  as  myself 
and  Jenny  Lind.  There  was  not  much  that  was  agreeable 
for  me  to  remember  in  the  educational  establishment  where 
we  three  could  have  been  all  together.  And  when  my 
sea-faring  countryman  presented  himself  before  me,  and 
we  shook  hands,  he  asked,  "  Was  not  mademoiselle 
brought  up  in  Stockholm  ?  " 

I  assented.  "  Ay,  ay !  "  said  he,  with  a  significant  nod 
of  the  head,  "  it  is  so ;  I  was  certain  of  it  and  in  Stock 
holm  I  was  also  brought  up  !  " 

We  shook  hands  again,  and  the  good  man — for  he 
looked  like  a  hearty,  good  fellow — gave  me  likewise  a 
present  which  I  shall  bring  home  with  me  to  Sweden. 
Almost  sinking  under  presents,  which  to  the  last  moment 
were  laid  in  my  arms,  I  set  off. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  367 

This  voyage  up  the  Savannah  river,  which  I  had  been 
warned  against  as  slow  and  monotonous,  was  more  agree 
able  than  I  can  tell.  The  weather  was  charming,  and  as  the 
stream  was  strong  and  the  river  swollen  from  the  spring- 
floods,  the  voyage  was  slow ;  I  had  plenty  of  time  to  observe 
the  banks  between  which  the  river  wound,  and  though  mile 
after  mile  and  hour  after  hour  presented  me  with  only 
one  scene,  yet  this  scene  was  primeval  forest.  Masses  of 
foliage  from  innumerable  trees  and  shrubs,  and  beautiful 
climbing  plants  seemed  resting  upon  the  water  on  each 
side  of  the  river,  the  shores  of  Georgia  and  Carolina. 
Lofty,  deep,  and  impenetrable  extended  the  primeval 
forest,  as  I  was  told,  for  many  miles  inland. 

But  here  it  existed  in  its  original  luxuriance  and  splen 
dour.  I  seemed  to  myself  to  be  present  on  the  third  day 
of  creation,  when  God  called  forth  the  vegetable  world, 
"  every  tree  whose  seed  was  in  itself  after  its  kind."  On 
the  day  when  the  earth  opened  its  maternal  breast  and 
produced  all  the  various  trees  and  flowers  of  the  earth, 
Savannah,  with  its  red-brown  water,  was  a  river  newly 
sprung  from  chaos,  and  rich  with  its  essence,  nor  yet 
had  had  time  to  settle  itself  and  clear  its  water,  when 
the  green  plants  of  earth  sprang  forth  in  wild  luxuriance ; 
it  seemed  to  play  with  them,  and  they,  newly  upsprung 
from  the  water,  seemed  to  have  no  wish  to  part  from  it, 
but  half  longed  to  fall  back  into  it.  Flower-laden,  climb 
ing  plants  flung  themselves  to  the  very  tops  of  the  trees, 
and  then  fell  down  to  dip  again  in  the  waves  of  the  river. 
From  amid  these  masses  of  verdure,  forming  porticoes, 
pyramids,  and  the  most  fantastic  and  massive  creations, 
glanced  forth  now  and  then,  a  Calatpa  all  flaming  with 
its  yellowish-white  flowers ;  dark-green,  solemn  magnolias 
lifted  up  their  snow-white  blossoms  towards  the  light, 
beautiful  and  pure  as  it.  I  noticed  sycamores,  amber- 
bearing  poplars,  tulip-trees  with  their  splendid  yellow  and 
red  flecked  blossoms,  mulberries,  many  kinds  of  oak, 


368  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

elms  and  willows,  as  I  went  along,  and  high  above  all 
towered  cypresses  with  their  long,  depending  mosses, 
spreading  their  vast  arms  abroad,  like  patriarchs  over 
the  lower  tribes  of  vegetation.  Not  a  human  dwelling 
was  to  be  seen  on  these  shores,  not  a  trace  of  human 
activity.  There  was  neither  the  sight  nor  sound  of  animal 
life,  and  although  alligators  are  numerous  in  the  Savannah 
river,  I  did  not  see  one ;  not  a  bird  sang,  and  all 
was  silent  and  hushed,  even  the  wind  itself.  It  was  a 
desolation  full  of  fantastic  beauty,  and  just  now  in  the 
pride  of  its  splendour.  At  length  I  saw,  sitting  on  the 
naked  boughs  of  a  dead  fir-tree,  two  large  birds  of  prey, 
reminding  the  beholder  that  "  death  was  come  into 
the  world." 

Thus  we  sped  on,  in  a  high-pressure  boat,  the  Oregon, 
with  its  two  reeking  chimneys,  up  the  river,  mile  after 
mile,  hour  after  hour,  whilst  the  morning  and  the  evening, 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  seemed  to  contend  which  should 
most  beautify  the  scene.  And  I  sang  in  my  soul,  as  the 
earliest  colonists  of  Georgia  had  done  before  me,  "  how 
beautiful  is  creation,  how  glorious  the  Creator ! "  and 
then  I  thought,  what  a  poem,  what  a  glorious  romance 
is  this  portion  of  the  world  in  its  natural  life ;  what 
wealth,  what  beauty,  what  varied  scenes  it  embraces 
in  its  bosom !  I  was  now  again  alone  with  America ; 
America  revealed  her  mysteries  to  me,  and  made  me 
aware  of  her  wealth,  the  inheritance  of  future  genera 
tions. 

The  Savannah  forms  the  boundary  between  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  I  had  tenderly-beloved  friends  both  in 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  I  loved  Georgia  the  most,  and 
turned  towards  its  shore,  as  toward  a  more  free,  a  more 
youthfully  fresh  land. 

The  voyage  was  an  incessant  feast  for  me,  and  I  wished 
only  to  be  silent  and  enjoy  it.  But  in  order  to  do  that, 
I  had  to  avoid,  in  the  saloon,  a  throng  of  handsome,  but 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  369 

wild  young  girls,  who  had  made,  on  their  own  account,  a 
pleasure -party,  and  now  ran  about  here  and  there,  chatter 
ing,  calling  to  one  another,  and  laughing ;  and  on  deck, 
a  few  gentlemen,  planters,  who  were  polite  and  wished  to 
talk,  but  talked  only  of  "  cotton,  cotton,  cotton,"  and 
how  the  world  was  beginning  to  busy  itself  about  Ameri 
can  cotton.  I  fled  away  from  these  worshippers  of  cotton, 
and  endeavoured  to  be  alone  with  the  river  and  the 
primeval  forest,  and  with  the  light  and  shadows  within 
it.  There  was  with  the  troop  of  young  girls  also  a 
youth,  a  handsome  young  man,  a  brother  or  relative  of 
some  of  them.  Later  on  in  the  evening  he  had  to  leave 
the  vessel,  and  then  the  wild  young  girls  took  hold  of  him, 
embraced  and  kissed  him,  the  one  after  the  other,  in  fun 
and  amid  laughter,  whilst  he,  half  annoyed  and  half 
amused,  endeavoured  to  get  loose  from  them.  What 
impression  would  that  young  man  carry  away  with  him  of 
that  night's  scene  ?  Not  esteem  for  woman.  One  of  the 
elder  gentlemen  on  deck,  shook  his  head  at  the  young 
girls'  behaviour;  "  They  make  a  fool  of  that  young  man  !  " 
said  he  to  me.  It  was  not  till  late  in  the  night  that  I 
could  get  to  sleep  for  the  noise  which  these  girls  made. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  life  seemed  to  celebrate 
a  holy-day,  so  still  and  so  festively -adorned  appeared  all 
nature.  The  wild,  young  girls  had  become  quiet,  and 
assembled  before  the  door  of  my  cabin,  which  was  open 
towards  the  river.  They  were  evidently  in  a  state  of 
mind  to  hear  something  serious.  The  peace  of  the 
Sabbath  rested  upon  them.  Had  now  some  sower,  com 
missioned  of  Heaven,  sown  the  seed  of  truth  and  the 
comprehension  of  the  higher  life  in  the  souls  of  these 
young  girls,  the  seed  would  assuredly  have  fallen  in  good 
ground.  I  have  faith  in  the  inborn,  pure  earnestness  of 
woman's  nature,  and  its  kinship  with  the  highest  spiritual 
life,  and  it  grieved  me  when  I  saw  it  running  wild  as  in 
this  case.  Not  that  I  think  a  moment  of  wildness  is 

VOL.  I.  B   B 


370  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  much  consequence  in  a  human  life ;  all  depends  upon 
the  main  direction  of  the  whole.  But  if  nature  is  left  to 
itself  it  becomes  a  wilderness,  and  wildernesses  of  human 
nature  are  very  much  less  beautiful  than  those  of  the 
primeval  forest — nor  would  even  these  be  good  to  live  in. 
The  spirit  of  a  superior  nature  must  lay  his  hand  upon 
the  young  heathen  before  he  can  become  full  of  human 
dignity  and  beauty. 

Fathers  and  mothers  in  the  young,  new  world,  do  not 
seem  rightly  to  know  the  good,  old  proverb,  "  Use  is 
second  nature;  "  nor  the  other  equally  excellent  one,  "  It 
is  easier  to  stem  a  brook  than  a  river." 

Towards  the  evening  of  this  day,  the  young  girls  were 
landed  here  and  there  at  different  plantations,  from  which 
boats  were  put  out  to  fetch  them ;  and  from  the  banks  of 
the  river  I  heard  words  of  affectionate  welcome,  and  saw 
cheerful  fires  blazing  through  the  thick  darkness,  for  the 
young  moon  had  already  set,  and  the  darkness  of  night  is 
very  dark  here  at  this  season,  whilst  the  evening  glow  of 
our  skies  lights  up  earth  and  heaven  till  it  is  dimmed  by 
the  glow  of  morning. 

On  Saturday  afternoon  I  went  on  board  at  Savannah. 
On  Monday  morning  I  arrived  at  Augusta,  where  I  was 
met  by  the  agreeable,  excellent  Mr.  B.,  who  took  me 
in  his  carriage  to  his  house,  where  I  was  received  with 
great  kindness  by  his  wife,  a  handsome  and  agreeable  Irish 
lady,  with  a  handsome  English  countenance,  remarkably 
like  Frances  von  K.,  but  with  a  softer  expression,  and 
by  Hanna  L.,  the  pale  girl  from  the  South,  whom  I 
first  met  with  on  the  voyage  from  England,  and  whom 
I  liked  so  much.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  me  to  find  her 
health  now  better  after  her  European  tour,  and  she 
seemed  to  me,  here  in  her  home  and  her  own  circle  of 
friends,  more  amiable  even  than  before. 

I  spent  here  some  very  agreeable  days,  receiving  visitors 
only  in  the  evening,  and  spending  the  mornings  in  chiving 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  371 

out  to  the  plantations  in  the  neighbourhood  and  elsewhere. 
Here  also  I  often  had  to  listen  to  and  to  answer  the  same 
multitude  of  trivial  and  wearisome  questions,  one  of  the 
worst  and  most  frequent  of  which  was,  "  Do  the  United 
States  answer  your  expectations  ?  " 

Yet  even  here  I  also  hecame  acquainted  with  some 
excellent  people,  both  men  and  women,  real  Christians 
and  true  citizens  of  the  world,  who  are  silently  labouring 
at  the  work  of  emancipation,  wisely  and  effectually ; 
assisting  the  slaves  into  the  path  of  self-emancipation, — 
that  is  to  say,  giving  opportunity  to  those  slaves  to 
acquire  money,  helping  them  to  keep  it,  and  encouraging 
them  to  industry  and  good  conduct,  with  a  view  to  their 
liberation  at  a  certain  time ;  in  a  few  years  perhaps,  or  it 
may  be  less,  and  afterwards  giving  them  that  freedom  for 
which  they  have  worked.  How  beautiful  it  seemed  to  me 
when  I  saw  them,  in  particular  an  elderly  gentleman  and 
lady,  how  good  they  seemed  to  me,  and  how  amiable ! 
How  happy  I  felt  myself  in  knowing  them !  One  of  these 
friends  of  humanity  had  advanced  to  a  negro  woman  a 
little  capital,  which  enabled  her,  by  her  own  labour,  not 
only  to  pay  monthly  interest  to  her  owner  for  the  money 
he  had  paid  for  her,  but  by  which  she  had  the  means  of 
purchasing  the  freedom  of  four  of  her  children ;  the  fifth 
had  yet  to  be  purchased,  but  even  this  one  also  would 
shortly  be  free,  through  the  help  of  a  benevolent  man. 
And  who  does  not  admire  this  slave,  who  thinks  nothing 
of  continuing  herself  a  slave,  but  merely  of  purchasing 
the  freedom — of  emancipating  her  children  ?  Such  a 
mother  would,  in  the  times  of  Athens  and  Sparta,  have 
been  proclaimed  as  "  an  honour  to  humanity."  But  this 
mother  remains  an  unknown  slave.  It  is  true  that  she 
feels  herself  well  off  in  her  situation,  and  does  not  wish 
for  a  freedom  which  at  her  age  could  not  be  obtained  but 
at  the  exchange  of  a  life  free  from  care,  for  one  much 
harder — at  least  in  Liberia.  "  When  I  am  old,"  said  she, 

B  B   2 


372  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  and  no  longer  able  to  work,  master  and  mistress  will 
take  care  of  me  !  "  So  think  many  old  slaves,  and  do  not 
trouble  themselves  about  a  freedom  in  which  they  would 
have  to  take  care  of  themselves.  And  this  is  good  when 
the  master  and  mistress  are  good,  and  do  not  die  before 
the  old  slaves,  in  which  case  the  fate  of  these  is  very 
uncertain,  and  becomes  sometimes,  under  new  owners, 
worse  than  that  of  the  domestic  animals. 

During  my  visit  to  a  few  of  the  plantations,  I  could 
clearly  see  that  the  ladies  looked  on  me  with  suspicious 
glances.  I  liked  one  of  these  ladies  nevertheless.  She 
seemed  to  me  of  a  fresh,  fine,  motherly  character.  I 
requested  her  to  accompany  me  to  the  slave-village  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  house.  She  agreed  to  do  so. 
The  hands,  as  the  working  negroes  of  the  South  are  called, 
were  now  out  in  the  fields  reaping  the  corn,  and  their 
houses  were  mostly  locked  up ;  I  went  into  the  few  that 
remained  open.  In  one  of  these  an  old  negro,  who  had  a 
bad  foot,  sat  on  the  bed.  Both  himself  and  the  whole 
dwelling  bore  the  stamp  of  good  care  and  attention.  "  He 
is  well  provided  for  in  his  old  age,  because  he  is  one  of 
our  own  people,"  said  Mrs.  E.,  aloud  to  me,  so  that  the 
negro  might  hear  her ;  "if  he  were  free  he  would  not  be 
so  well  off." 

"  And  why  not  ?  "  said  I,  but  silently  to  myself,  for  I 
would  not  say  it  aloud  lest  the  negro  should  hear.  "  We 
too,  on  our  estates  in  Sweden,  have  old  and  sick  servants, 
and  although  they  are  free  and  enjoy  freely  the  wages  for 
which  they  serve,  yet  we  consider  it  no  less  incumbent  on 
us,  in  justice  to  them  and  as  our  own  duty,  to  take  all 
possible  care  of  them  in  their  sickness  and  old  age  ;  and 
if  they  serve  us  faithfully,  to  make  their  old  age  as  happy 
as  we  possibly  can,  consistently  with  our  own  means. 
The  bad  master  with  us,  as  well  as  the  bad  slave-holder 
goes  where  he  belongs." 

This  is  what  I  wished  to  say  to  Mrs.  E.,  and  would  have 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  373 

said  it  if  we  had  been  alone  together,  because  I  could  not 
help  seeing  in  her  a  somewhat  proud,  but  at  the  bottom 
a  noble  character,  who,  by  the  injustice  of  the  Aboli 
tionists  against  the  position  of  the  slave-holder,  has  been 
driven  to  injustice  against  that  of  the  workers,  but  who 
could  and  who  would  look  at  the  truth,  if,  without  any 
polemical  asperity,  it  were  placed  before  her  unbiassed 
judgment.  But  I  did  not  find  any  opportunity  for  trying 
the  experiment  because  we  never  were  alone. 

The  slave -villages  in  Georgia  have  the  same  exterior 
as  those  in  Carolina,  and  the  condition  of  the  slaves  on 
the  plantations  seem  to  me  similar  also.  The  good  and 
the  bad  masters  make  the  only  difference ;  but  then  in 
such  circumstances  this  is  immeasurable. 

"  Here  lives  the  owner  of  a  plantation  who  is  universally 
known  as  cruel  to  his  people,"  was  once  said  to  me  as  I 
went  past  a  beautiful  country-house,  almost  concealed  by 
thick  trees  and  shrubs.  People  know  this,  and  they  do 
not  willingly  hold  intercourse  with  such  a  man,  that  is  all. 
Neither  the  angel  of  justice  nor  of  love  ventures  into  these 
mystical  groves,  where  human  beings  are  sacrificed. 
What  paganism  amid  Christianity  !  But  this  avenges 
itself  nevertheless  on  the  white  races,  as  is  evident  in 
many  things. 

One  day  I  went  to  see,  in  the  forest,  some  of  the  poor 
people  called  "  clay-eaters ; "  these  are  a  kind  of  wretched 
white  people,  found  in  considerable  numbers  both  in 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  who  live  in  the  woods,  without 
churches,  without  schools,  without  hearths,  and  some 
times  also  without  homes,  but  yet  independent  and  proud 
in  their  own  way,  and  who  are  induced  by  a  diseased 
appetite  to  eat  a  sort  of  unctuous  earth,  which  is  found 
here,  until  this  taste  becomes  a  passion  with  them,  equally 
strong  with  the  love  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  although,  by 
slow  degrees,  it  consumes  its  victim,  causes  the  complexion 
to  become  grey,  and  the  body  soon  to  mingle  with  the 


374  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

earth  on  which,  it  has  nourished  itself.  Clay- eaters  is  the 
name  given  to  these  miserable  people.  No  one  knows 
whence  they  come,  and  scarcely  how  they  exist,  but  they 
and  the  people  called  "  Sandhill  people,"  poor  whites 
who  live  in  the  barren,  sandy  tracts  of  the  Southern 
States,  are  found  in  great  numbers  here.  The  Sandhill 
people  are  commonly  as  immoral  as  they  are  ignorant, 
for,  as  by  the  law  of  the  States  it  is  forbidden  to  teach 
the  negro  slaves  to  read  and  write,  and  in  consequence 
there  would  be  no  support  for  schools,  where  half  the 
population  consists  of  slaves,  and  the  country  in  con 
sequence  is  thinly  inhabited ;  therefore  the  indigent  white 
people  in  the  country  villages  are  without  schools,  and 
very  nearly  without  any  instruction  at  all.  Besides  which 
these  people  have  no  feeling  for  the  honour  of  labour 
and  the  power  of  activity.  The  first  thing  which  a  white 
man  does  when  he  has  acquired  a  little  money  is  to  buy 
a  slave,  either  male  or  female ;  and  the  slave  must  work 
for  the  whole  family.  The  poor  slave-holder  prides 
himself  on  doing  nothing,  and  letting  the  whole  work  be 
done  by  the  slave.  Slave-labour  is  generally  careless 
labour,  and  all  the  more  so  under  a  lazy  master.  The 
family  is  not  benefited  by  it.  If  the  master  and  mistress 
are  famished,  the  slaves  are  famished  also,  and  all  become 
miserable  together.  But  again  to  the  clay-eaters. 

Mr.  G.  and  his  family  were  a  good  specimen  of  this 
class  of  people.  They  lived  in  the  depths  of  a  wood 
quite  away  from  any  road.  It  was  a  hot  and  sultry  day, 
and  it  was  sultry  in  the  wood.  The  poison- oak  (a  kind 
of  dwarf  oak,  said  to  be  extremely  poisonous),  grew  thickly 
on  all  sides  in  the  sand.  Deep  in  the  wood  we  found  a 
newly  built  shed,  which  had  been  roofed  in  for  the  poor 
family  by  some  benevolent  persons.  Here  lived  the 
husband  and  wife,  with  five  or  six  children.  They  had 
a  roof  over  their  heads,  but  that  was  all ;  I  saw  no  kind 
of  furniture  whatever,  not  even  a  fire-place,  and  door 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  375 

there  was  none.  But  Mr.  G.,  an  affable  little  man  of 
about  fifty,  seemed  delighted  with  his  world,  with  himself, 
his  children,  and  in  particular  with  his  wife,  whom  he 
described  as  the  best  wife  in  the  world,  and  with  whom 
he  seemed  to  be  enchanted.  The  wife,  although  grey  as 
the  earth,  both  in  complexion  and  dress,  and  pitifully  thin, 
was  evidently  still  quite  young  and  possessed  real  beauty 
of  feature.  She  looked  good  but  not  gay,  was  silent,  and 
kept  her  eyes  very  much  fixed  on  her  children,  the 
handsomest,  the  most  magnificent,  unbaptised  young 
creatures  that  any  one  can  imagine,  tumbling  about  with 
one  another  in  perfect  freedom,  with  natural  grace, 
liveliness,  and  agilit}r — very  excellent  human  material 
thought  I,  and  better  than  many  a  baptised,  over-indulged 
drawing-room  urchin.  Mr.  G.  was  talkative,  and  volun 
teered  us  various  passages  out  of  his  life's  history. 

He  had  at  one  time  been  the  overseer  of  a  slave-holder 
and  churchman :  but  the  office  was  one  of  so  much  cruelty 
that  he  gave  it  up.  He  could  not  endure  having  to  flog 
the  slaves  himself,  nor  yet  to  have  them  flogged.  But 
his  master  would  not  permit  him  to  abstain  from  it.  And 
others  were  no  better.  He  had  tried  them.  This  one,  it 
seemed  to  him,  ought  to  have  been  better  as  he  was  a 
religious  man.  "And  in  the  beginning  he  was  not  bad," 
said  he,  "but  after  awhile  he  married  a  rich  planter's 
daughter,  which  changed  him  greatly,  and  he  grew  worse 
and  worse  every  year.  But  that  was  the  fault  of  his 
marriage,  for  he  was  unhappy  with  his  wife." 

The  clay-eater  in  the  forest  looked  down  with 
compassion  upon  the  rich  planter — religious  professor 
though  he  was — unhappy  with  his  wife  and.  cruel  to  his 
people.  He,  the  freeman  in  the  wild  forest,  with  his 
pretty,  gentle  wife,  and  his  handsome  children,  was  richer 
and  happier  than  he  !  Mr.  G.  seemed  proud  as  a  king,  in 
his  free,  innocent  poverty. 

"But   cannot   overseers   be    gentle   to    the   slaves?" 


376  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

inquired  I.  "  No,"  replied  he,  "  they  must  be  severe, 
they  must  drive  them  with  the  whip,  if  they  are  to  work 
as  they  ought ;  and  the  planters  will  have  nothing  else." 

I  leave  this  man's  must  to  its  own  intrinsic  value,  and 
to  the  question,  whether  it  may  not  have  had  its  origin  in 
a  want  of  wise  management  and  gentleness  in  himself. 
But  true  it  is  that  the  overseers  which  I  have  as  yet  met 
with,  displease  me  by  a  certain  severity,  a  certain  savage 
expression  in  their  countenance,  particularly  in  their  eye. 
And  one  of  the  heaviest  grievances  in  the  life  of  the 
planter,  seems  to  me  to  be,  that  the  slaves,  after  a  long 
series  of  years,  are  left  in  the  power  of  the  overseers, 
whilst  the  master  and  his  family  are  absent  from  the 
plantation  for  the  sake  of  their  health  or  their  pleasure. 

The  day  after  my  visit  to  the  clay-eaters,  I  was  present 
at  a  festival  at  Augusta,  on  occasion  of  the  presentation  of 
a  sword  of  honour,  on  behalf  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  to  a 
young  officer  of  Augusta,  who  had  distinguished  him 
self,  and  had  been  severely  wounded,  in  the  war  with 
Mexico.  A  stage  was  erected  for  the  occasion  in  a  little 
park  within  the  city,  and  around  it,  in  the  form  of  an 
amphitheatre,  a  gallery  with  benches  and  seats,  which 
were  filled  with  spectators.  The  sword  was  presented  to 
the  young  soldier  on  the  elevated  platform,  which  was 
covered  with  carpets  and  adorned  with  banners.  It  was 
a  very  beautiful  scene,  under  the  open  sky  and  the  beau 
tiful  trees,  only  there  was  rather  too  much  talking.  I  was 
pleased  that  the  young  hero  of  the  day  in  his  speech 
mentioned,  with  affection  and  praise,  many  of  his  com 
rades  in  the  war,  who  had,  he  said,  deserved  this 
distinction  better  than  he  ;  and  he  related  their  achieve 
ments.  He  seemed  to  have  a  heartfelt  delight  in  speaking 
of  the  deeds  of  his  companions-in-arms.  The  assembly 
applauded  his  speech  rapturously.  We  had  besides, 
several  other  speeches :  I  cannot  help  always  being 
astonished  at  the  Americans'  great  facility  in  talking. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  377 

When,  however,  the  speeches  are  too  numerous  and  too 
long,  I  cannot  butrecal  the  words^of  Mr.  Poinsett,  when  on 
one  occasion  I  spoke  with  admiration  of  this  wonderful 
facility  in  making  speeches,  "  It  is  a  great  misfortune  !  " 

After  the  ceremony  the  cannon  fired  loud  enough  to 
split  the  drums  of  one's  ears,  if  not  the  walls  of  the 
fortress. 

The  hero  of  the  day  descended  from  the  platform  amid 
a  host  of  friends  and  acquaintances  ;  his  sword  of  honour, 
with  its  handsome  silver  hilt,  its  inscription  and  belt, 
was  passed  from  hand  to  hand  among  the  spectators. 
After  this,  music  struck  up,  and  the  company  proceeded 
in  a  promenade  dance  under  the  trees,  which  were 
illuminated  with  coloured  lamps,  the  young  hero  at  a 
given  sign  taking  the  lead.  Dancing  then  became 
general.  I  noticed  a  number  of  little  girls  dancing ; 
they  looked  pretty,  though  I  am  not  fond  of  seeing 
children,  so  fine  and  such  ^little  women,  in  the  dance. 
The  ladies  who  did  not  dance  sat  in  grand  style  on  the 
galleried  seats  under  the  trees.  Many  were  very  hand 
some.  It  astonished  me,  when  Mrs.  E.,  the  planter's 
lady  who  had  looked  suspiciously  on  me,  and  yet  whom  I 
took  a  liking  to,  introduced  me  to  her  husband,  and 
when  they  both  invited  me  very  kindly  and  warmly  to  pay 
them  a  visit  for  as  long  a  time  as  might  be  agreeable  to 
me.  I  was  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  decline  so  polite  an 
invitation,  one  which  proved  to  me  that  I  had  not  been 
mistaken  in  my  liking  for  the  lady.  Her  husband  also 
appeared  extremely  agreeable. 

A  heavy  shower  of  rain,  which  came  on  quite  unexpec 
tedly,  put  a  sudden  end  to  the  fete,  and  sent  everybody 
helter-skelter  home. 

When  at  home  with  Mr.  B.,  I  heard  the  negroes 
singing,  it  having  been  so  arranged  by  Hanna  L.  I 
wished  rather  to  have  heard  their  own  naive  songs,  but 
was  told  that  they  "  dwelt  with  the  Lord,"  and  sang  only 


378  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

hymns.  I  am  sorry  for  this  exclusiveness  ;  nevertheless, 
their  hymns  sung  in  quartette  were  glorious.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  have  more  exquisite  or  better  singing. 
They  had  note-books  before  them,  and  seemed  to  be 
singing  from  them ;  but  my  friends  laughed,  doubting 
whether  they  were  for  actual  use.  In  the  midst  of  the 
singing  a  cock  began  to  crow  in  the  house,  and  kept  on 
crowing  incessantly.  From  the  amusement  this  occa 
sioned,  I  saw  that  there  was  more  in  it  than  appeared. 
Nor  was  it  in  reality  a  cock  that  crowed,  but  a  young 
negro  from  a  neighbouring  court,  who  being  possessed  of 
the  cock's  ability  to  crow,  chose  to  make  one  in  the 
concert. 

After  this,  another  young  negro,  who  was  not  so  evan 
gelical  as  the  rest,  came  and  sang  with  his  banjo  several 
of  the  negro  songs,  universally  known  and  sung  in  the 
South  by  the  negro  people,  whose  product  they  are,  and 
in  the  Northern  States  by  persons  of  all  classes,  because 
they  are  extremely  popular.  The  music  of  these  songs  is 
melodious,  naive,  and  full  of  rhythmical  life,  and  the 
deepest  tenderest  sentiment.  Many  of  these  songs 
remind  me  of  Haydn's  and  Mozart's  simple,  naive  me 
lodies  ;  for  example,  "  Kosa  Lee,"  "  Oh,  Susannah," 
"  Dearest  May,"  "  Carry  me  back  to  old  Virginny,"  "  Uncle 
Ned,"  and  "  Mary  Blane,"  all  of  which  are  full  of  the 
most  touching  pathos,  both  in  words  and  melody.  The 
words,  however,  are  frequently  inferior  to  the  music ;  they 
are  often  childish,  and  contain  many  repetitions  both  of 
phrases  and  imagery ;  but  frequently  amid  all  this,  expres 
sions  and  turns  of  thought  which  are  in  the  highest 
degree  poetical,  and  with  bold  and  happy  transitions, 
such  as  we  find  in  the  oldest  songs  of  our  northern 
people.  These  negro  songs  are  also  not  uncommonly 
ballads,  or  more  properly,  little  romances,  which  contain 
descriptions  of  their  love  affairs  and  their  simple  life's 
fate.  There  is  no  imagination,  no  gloomy  back-ground, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  379 

rich  with  saga  or  legend,  as  in  our  songs ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  much  sentiment,  and  a  naive,  and  often 
humorous  seizing  upon  the  moment  and  its  circumstances. 
These  songs  have  been  made  on  the  road ;  during  the 
journeyings  of  the  slaves;  upon  the  rivers,  as  they 
paddled  their  canoes  along,  or  steered  the  raft  down  the 
stream ;  and  in  particular  at  the  corn-hustings,  which 
are  to  the  negroes  what  the  harvest-home  is  to  our 
peasants,  and  at  which  they  sing  impromptu,  whatever 
is  uppermost  in  their  heart  or  in  their  brain.  Yes,  all 
these  songs  are  peculiarly  improvisations,  which  have 
taken  root  in  the  mind  of  the  people,  and  are  listened  to 
and  sung  to  the  whites,  who,  possessed  of  a  knowledge  of 
music,  have  caught  and  noted  them  down.  And  this 
improvisation  goes  forward  every  day.  People  hear  new 
songs  continually ;  they  are  the  offspring  of  nature  and  of 
accident,  produced  from  the  joys  and  the  sorrows  of  a 
child-like  race.  The  rhyme  comes  as  it  may,  sometimes 
clumsily,  sometimes  no  rhyme  at  all,  sometimes  most  won 
derfully  fresh  and  perfect ;  the  rhythm  is  excellent,  and 
the  descriptions  have  local  colouring  and  distinctness. 
Alabama,  Louisiana,  Tennesee,  Carolina,  "  Old  Yirginny," 
all  the  melodious  names  of  the  Southern  States  and  places 
there,  the  abodes  of  the  slaves,  are  introduced  into  their 
songs,  as  well  as  their  love-histories,  and  give  a  local 
interest  and  colouring  not  only  to  the  song,  but  to  the 
State  and  to  the  place  which  they  sing  about.  Thus 
these  songs  are  like  flowers  and  fragrance  from  the 
negro-life  in  those  states — like  flowers  cast  upon  the  waves 
of  the  river,  and  borne  hither  and  thither  by  the  wind — 
like  fragrance  from  the  flowers  of  the  wilderness  in  their 
summer  life,  because  there  is  no  bitterness,  no  gloomy 
spirit  in  these  songs.  They  are  the  offspring  of  life's 
summer-day,  and  bear  witness  to  this.  And  if  bitterness 
and  the  condition  of  slavery  were  to  cease  for  ever  in  the 
free  land  of  the  United  States,  these  songs  would  still 


380  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

live,  and  bear  witness  to  the  light  of  life,  even  as  the 
phosphorescent  beam  of  the  fire-fly  shines,  though  the 
glow-worm  may  be  crushed. 

The  young  negro  whom  I  heard  sing  this  evening,  sang 
among  other  songs  one,  of  which  I  would  that  I  could  give 
you  an  idea,  so  fresh  was  the  melody,  and  so  peculiar  the 
key.  Of  the  words  I  only  remember  this  first  verse  : — 

I  am  going  to  the  old  Pee  Dee  ! 
And  there  on  the  old  Pee  Dee, 

On  a  summer's  night, 

When  the  moon  shines  bright, 
My  Sally  I  shall  see  ! 

The  last  syllable  of  the  first  and  last  verse  is  long  drawn 
out.  The  little  romance  describes  how  the  lover  and 
Sally  will  be  married  and  settle  themselves  down,  and  live 
happily  all  on  the  banks  of  the  old  Pee  Dee.  A  heart-felt, 
charming  Southern  idyll. 

The  banjo  is  an  African  instrument,  made  from  the 
half  of  a  fruit  called  the  calabash,  or  gourd,  which  has  a 
very  hard  rind.  A  thin  skin  or  piece  of  bladder  is 
stretched  over  the  opening,  and  over  this  one  or  two 
strings  are  stretched,  which  are  raised  on  a  bridge.  The 
banjo  is  the  negroes'  guitar,  and  certainly  it  is  the  first 
born  among  stringed  instruments. 

The  day  following,  when  dining  with  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
G.,  I  also  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  some  negro 
songs  which  pleased  me  greatly.  The  young  negro  who 
sang,  having  weak  lungs,  was  not  able  to  do  much  work, 
and  some  kind  people  therefore  had  enabled  him  to 
cultivate  his  musical  gifts  by  instruction  and  practice. 
He  sang  excellently.  And  in  order  to  understand  the 
peculiar  fascination  of  their  songs,  they  should  be  heard, 
sung  by  negroes,  with  their  beaming  glances  and  naive 
abandon. 

Augusta  is  a  little  city  of  the  same  style  as  Savannah, 
but  less  great,  less  beautiful,  smaller  in  every  way ;  but  very 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  381 

pretty  nevertheless,  and  situated  in  a  broad  bend  of  the 
Savannah.  Around  it  are  many  charming  country-houses 
with  their  gardens.  I  visited  several  such  ;  saw  beautiful 
and  earnest  family  groups ;  and  heard  the  hundred- 
tongued  birds  singing  in  the  oak-woods.  Of  oaks,  such 
as  our  Swedish  oak,  I  find  none ;  but  many  other  kinds  of 
oaks,  of  which  the  live-oak,  with  its  delicately  cut  oval 
leaf,  is  the  most  splendid  kind. 

During  my  stay  at  Augusta,  I  have  been  for  some  time 
deliberating  upon  an  excursion  which  I  proposed  to  make 
northward.  I  wished  greatly  to  visit  the  highlands  of 
Georgia,  and  Tellulah  Falls  in  that  district,  which  had 
been  described  to  me  in  Charleston  as  the  most  picturesque 
in  America.  I  should  like  to  have  seen  that  original,  who 
a  few  years  since  built  the  first  inn  at  the  falls,  and  who 
christened  his  eldest  daughter  Magnolia  Grandiflora,  his 
second  Tellulah  Falls,  and  his  son  some  other  curious 
name  which  I  have  forgotten.  I  had  already  half  de 
termined  to  undertake  the  journey,  and  a  kind,  young 
lady  had  given  me  letters  to  her  friends  in  Athens  and 
Borne,  places  on  the  road  to  Tellulah  Falls,  and  which  I 
presume  are  related  in  about  the  same  degree  to  the  great 
of  these  names,  as  we  probably  are  to  Adam  and  Eve ; 
but  the  heat  became  great,  and  I  felt  myself  so  weak 
in  consequence  of  it,  and  the  journey  would  have  been  so 

fatiguing,  that  I gave  it  up,  and  determined  instead 

to  go  back  to  Charleston  by  way  of  Columbia,  the  capital 
of  South  Carolina,  and  which  I  have  been  told  has  a 
remarkably  beautiful  site  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
highlands. 

Having  promised  to  return,  I  parted  from  my  kind 
entertainers,  thankful  for  the  residence  in  their  house, 
and  for  that  which  the  residence  in  Augusta  had  given  me, 
of  gold,  better  than  that  of  California. 

The  excellent,  agreeable  Mr.  B.  accompanied  me  a 
short  distance  to  the  railroad,  on  the  other  side  of  the 


382  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

river.  On  our  way  we  passed  through  the  slave -market. 
Forty  or  fifty  young  persons  of  both  sexes  were  walking 
up  and  down  before  the  house  in  expectation  of  purchasers. 
They  were  singing ;  they  seemed  cheerful  and  thoughtless. 
The  young  slaves  who  were  here  offered  for  sale  were 
from  twelve  to  twenty  years  of  age ;  there  was  one  little 
boy,  however,  who  was  only  six ;  he  belonged  to  no  one 
there.  He  attached  himself  to  the  slave-keeper.  Poor 
little  fellow  !  Who  was  his  mother  ?  Who  his  sister  or 
his  brother  ?  Many  of  these  children  were  fair  mulattoes, 
and  some  of  them  very  pretty.  One  young  girl  of  twelve 
was  so  white  that  I  should  have  supposed  her  to  belong 
to  the  white  race ;  her  features  too  were  also  those  of  the 
whites.  The  slave-keeper  told  us  that  the  day  before, 
another  girl  still  fairer  and  handsomer,  had  been  sold  for 
fifteen  hundred  dollars.  These  white  children  of  slavery 
become,  for  the  most  part,  victims  of  crime,  and  sink  into 
the  deepest  degradation.  Yet  again, — what  heathenism 
in  the  midst  of  a  Christian  land  ! 

The  greater  number  of  these  young  slaves  were  from 
Virginia,  which  not  needing  much  slave-labour  itself,  sells 
its  slaves  down  south.  Some  gentlemen  were  on  the  spot, 
and  one  or  two  of  them  called  my  attention  to  the  cheerful 
looks  of  the  young  people. 

"  All  the  more  sorrowful  is  their  condition,"  thought  I, 
"  the  highest  degradation  is  not  to  feel  it !  " 

But  from  this  shame-spot  in  the  young  and  beautiful 
state  of  Georgia,  I  turn  my  glance  with  pleasure  to 
another  spot,  one  rich  in  honour  and  hope — that  so- 
called  "  Liberty- County ;"  and  it  was  a  great  loss  to  me 
not  to  have  been  able  to  visit  this,  the  oldest  home  of 
liberty  in  the  state  of  Georgia.  Here  began  the  first 
movement  in  the  south  for  American  freedom.  "  The 
Liberty-Boys  "  originated  here ;  and  here  it  was  that,  still 
later,  commenced  the  first  effectual  movements  for  the 
instruction  of  the  negroes  in  Christianity,  for  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  383 

emancipation  and  colonisation,  in  their  African  father 
land. 

A  short  time  ago  there  died  in  Liberty -County  a  rich 
planter,  Mr.  Clay,  universally  known  for  his  zeal  on  these 
subjects,  and  for  his  human  kindness  generally.  His 
corpse  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  a  great  number  of 
persons,  both  whites  and  blacks.  The  whites,  as  soon  as 
the  grave  was  covered  in,  returned  to  their  homes,  but  the 
negroes  remained  by  the  grave  through  the  whole  night, 
singing  hymns.  The  sister  of  Mr.  Clay  participated  with 
him  in  the  work  of  elevating  the  slaves,  and  it  is  said 
continues  it  since  his  death.  God  bless  all  such  noble 
and  liberal-minded  persons  ! 

I  found  that  in  Georgia,  the  following  view  of  slavery 
prevailed  generally : 

Slavery  is  an  evil ;  but  under  the  wise  direction  of  God 
it  will  become  a  blessing  to  the  negroes.  The  whites  who 
have  enslaved  them,  will  make  them  compensation  for 
their  sufferings  through  the  gift  of  Christianity,  and  by 
instructing  them  in  agriculture,  and  the  handicraft  arts, — 
thus  they  may  be  first  instructed,  and  then  gradually 
emancipated  and  colonised  in  Africa ;  the  heathen 
nations  of  Africa  being  finally  Christianised  and  civilised 
through  the  Christianised  and  emancipated  slaves  of 
America. 

I  am  convinced  that  this  is  the  truth  and  the  way. 
And  by  this  view  of  the  question  in  Georgia,  and  from 
what  it  has  already  begun,  I  see  a  proof  of  how  much 
public  opinion  in  this  country  goes  a-head  of  legislation. 
For  the  law,  as  regards  the  treatment  of  slaves,  takes  a 
very  low  stand  in  Georgia,  as  well  as  in  South  Carolina. 

Georgia  may  with  more  justice  than  Carolina  be  called 
the  Palmetto  State,  as  the  palmetto  is  really  very 
abundant  there,  besides  many  other  plants,  which  indicate 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  tropics,  and  a  new  face  of 
nature;  and  how  gladly  would  I  contemplate  this  face 


384  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

still  more  closely!  One  of  those  plants,  called  Yucca 
gloriosa,  as  well  as  the  Spanish  dagger,  sends  forth  its 
pointed  dagger-like  leaves  in  all  directions  from  the  stem, 
and  has  a  cluster  of  splendid  white  bell-shaped  flowers. 

And  now  adieu  for  the  present,  amid  the  beautiful 
flowers  of  Georgia,  and  its  still  more  beautiful  human 
beings. 

Columbia  is  a  pretty  little  city  of  handsome  villas  and 
gardens,  and  in  the  midst  of  these  a  fine  senate -house,  for 
Columbia  is  the  capital  of  South  Carolina.  Every  state 
in  the  union  has  its  capital  situated  in  the  centre  of  the 
State,  and  commonly  it  is  of  small  importance,  excepting 
as  a  place  of  meeting  for  the  two  legislative  bodies,  the 
senate  and  representatives,  who  sit  in  the  Senate  House 
of  the  capital  some  months  of  each  year.  Besides  which 
each  state  has  its  large  trading  towns  situated  by  the  sea, 
or  upon  some  of  the  great  rivers  which  pour  in  all 
directions  through  this  abundantly  watered  portion  of  the 
earth.  Columbia  in  Carolina — every  state  in  the  union 
has,  I  believe,  a  city  which  is  called  Columbia  or  Colum 
bus — is  beautifully  situated  on  a  height  near  the  river 
Congoree. 

I  have  derived  great  pleasure  through  the  kindness  of 
a  Mr.  Gibbs  here,  a  natural  historian,  who  has  shown 
me  much  attention.  In  his  collection  I  have  seen  the 
remains  of  those  antediluvian  creatures,  the  Megatherium 
and  Mastodon,  the  bones  of  which  have  been  dug  up  here. 
These  remains  belong  to  Titanic  creatures.  A  single 
tooth  is  as  large  as  my  hand.  Mr.  Gibbs  has  had  the 
kindness  to  give  me  drawings  and  descriptions  of  these 
animals  which  I  shall  be  glad  to  send  home  to  our 
Professor  Sundevall.  He  has  also  given  me  a  little 
hummingbird's  nest,  the  prettiest  thing  in  the  world, 
built  of  small,  delicate  blades  of  grass  and  tiny  pieces 
of  paper. 

I  was  one  day  invited  by  a  Professor  F.  to  the  weddings 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  385 

of  two  couple  of  his  house-slaves.  The  bridal  pairs  were 
young  people  and  looked  very  well,  especially  one  of  the 
bridegrooms,  a  negro,  black  as  night,  and  whom  his 
master  commended  for  the  excellence  of  his  character  and 
his  general  intelligence,  and  one  of  the  brides — but 
not  of  the  bridegroom  par  excellence,  were  regularly 
handsome.  Both  the  brides  were  dressed  very  prettily 
in  white,  and  wore  garlands.  The  clergyman  entered  the 
negro-company,  stepped  up  to  the  bridal  couples  and 
very  soon  dismissed  the  marriage  ceremony,  after  which 
they  began  dancing  in  the  same  room.  Negroes  and 
negresses  swung  round  in  a  lively  waltz ;  ladies  dressed 
and  decked  out  in  gauze  and  flowers,  altogether  like  our 
ladies,  the  only  difference  being  that  these  had  more 
finery  about  them,  and  considerably  less  grace  ;  and  after 
all  they  looked  very  much  better  in  this  borrowed  and 
imitated  finery  than  I  should  have  believed  possible. 
Whilst  the  black  company  danced  zealously,  the  white 
people  went  to  see  the  wedding  dinner-table,  which  was 
splendidly  covered  with  flowers  and  fine  cakes,  and 
seemed  really  almost  to  bend  under  the  abundance  of 
meats. 

I  here  became  acquainted  with  a  German,  Professor 
Lieber,  an  author  of  talent  and  a  worthy  man.  For  the 
rest  there  was  nothing  very  remarkable  here,  unless  it 
were  the  great  number  of  colonels.  All  gentlemen  of 
wealth,  planters  or  others,  it  matters  not,  are  called 
Colonel,  though  they  may  not  have  been  military.  Such 
colonels  abound  in  the  Southern  States.  When  I  ex 
pressed  my  astonishment  at  this  general  promotion,  I 
was  told  that  when  the  President  of  the  United  States 
visited  the  various  states,  he  nominated  many  of  these 
gentlemen  to  be  his  adjutants  for  the  occasion ;  and  these 
adopted  and  have  since  retained  the  title  of  Colonel. 
But  that  sounding  title  for  so  small  service,  and  the 
passion  for  titles  which  evidently  distinguished  a  portion 

YOL.   I.  C  C 


386  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  the  republican  people  of  America,  especially  in  the 

South,  is a  little  possessed  of  the  devil;  and  but 

little  in  harmony  with  the  aim  of  this  community.  The 
old  Adam  in  the  old  uniform  is  going  about  still ! 

Yesterday  I  went  out  alone  on  a  ramble  of  discovery 
through  wood  and  field.  I  came  to  a  pretty  little  house 
in  the  midst  of  a  wood,  and  there  stood  at  its  door,  and 
apparently  its  owner,  a  fat  Mulatto -woman.  With  the 
excuse  of  obtaining  a  glass  of  water  I  went  into  the  house 
and  fell  into  discourse  with  the  old  couple,  a  negro  and 
his  wife,  to  whom  the  house  and  a  little  garden  belonged. 
The  Mulatto-woman  was  talkative  and  showed  me  the 
whole  house,  which  the  master  of  herself  and  her  husband 
had  built  for  them  and  given  them  for  their  life-time.  It 
showed  throughout  that  the  old  couple  had  a  love  of  order 
and  excellence,  not  only  in  the  house  but  the  garden. 
Their  children  were  all  dead,  and  some  dark  words  accom 
panied  by  dark  glances  escaped  the  old  woman  in  the 
bitter  feeling  of  the  loss  of  her  children  through  the  fault 
of  others,  which  made  me  aware  of  a  dark  background  to 
this  bright  picture.  But  I  would  not  seek  to  know  more. 
The  old  negro,  I  thought,  looked  anxious  when  his  wife 
talked  gloomily. 

At  another  place  in  the  wood  I  saw,  at  a  very  little 
residence,  two  elderly  white  ladies,  evidently  sisters,  and 
meanly  clad,  sitting  enjoying  the  shade  of  a  live-oak.  I 
asked  permission  to  sit  down  with  them  in  the  shade. 
They  consented,  and  thus  I  fell  into  discourse  with  them, 
was  shown  their  house,  and  made  acquainted  with  their 
circumstances.  These  were  narrow.  The  sisters  had 
seen  better  days,  but  had,  since  the  death  of  their  father, 
fallen  into  need ;  they  were  now  supported  by  the  product 
of  their  place  and  by  dressmaking.  But  they  were  con 
tented,  and  piety  and  labour  made  life  serene  and  the 
days  short.  If  only  the  health  of  one  of  the  sisters  were 
a  little  better ;  and  the  summers  and  the  sand  a  little 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  387 

less  hot ! How  similar  everywhere  are  human  cir 
cumstances,  how  similar  are  the  causes  of  suffering  and 
of  happiness,  of  joy  and  of  sorrow !  Here  is  it  the 
summer  and  the  sand  which  is  in  the  way  of  happiness ; 
elsewhere  it  is  the  winter  and  the  granite — everywhere  it 
is  sickness ! 

Charleston,  June  2nd. — This  Charleston — this  "  owl's 
nest,"  is  nevertheless  right  pleasant  as  it  now  stands,  like 
an  immense  bouquet  of  fragrant  trees  and  flowers,  and 
with  its  kind,  amiable  people  !  It  has  affected  me  deeply 
to  have  been  received  here  as  I  have  been  by  old  and 
new  friends.  I  have  come  to  love  Charleston  for  the 
sake  of  its  inhabitants,  especially  for  my  two  ladies  there, 
Mrs.  W.  Howland  and  Mrs.  Holbrook.  I  am  now  once 
more  in  the  excellent  home  of  the  former,  where  I  have 
been  received  as  a  member  of  the  family. 

I  arrived  here  the  day  before  yesterday  half  suffocated 
by  the  heat  of  the  atmosphere,  sunshine,  smoke  and  steam, 
but  found  here  a  real  Swedish,  fresh  summer  air,  which 
still  continues  and  has  greatly  refreshed  me,  to  say 
nothing  of  all  that  is  good,  comfortable,  and  charming, 
with  which  this  home  abounds.  God  be  thanked  for  this 
good  home  and  for  every  .good  home  on  earth!  "All 
good  homes  !  "  is  my  usual  toast  when  I  propose  one  at 
the  American  tables. 

I  found  upon  my  writing-table  a  bouquet  of  beautiful 
flowers  from  Mrs.  Holbrook,  and  a  book  which  both  sur 
prised  and  pleased  me.  I  little  expected  in  the  New 
World,  and  least  of  all  in  a  great  city,  to  meet  with  a 
profoundly  penetrative,  liberal  spirit  which,  like  Boklin 
in  Sweden,  and  H.  Martensen  in  Denmark,  places  the 
ground  of  Christian  faith  in  the  highest  reason.  It  is, 
however,  precisely  this  pure  German  spirit  which  I  find 
in  the  Philosophic  Theology,  or  the  first  principles  of 
all  Religious  faith  founded  in  Reason,  by  the  young 
missionary,  James  W.  Miles ;  a  small  book  but  of  great 

c  c  2 


388  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

import,  written  with  English  clearness  and  precision, 
without  any  German  prolixity.  This  little  work  comes 
very  near  Martensen's  "  Autonomi," — that  excellent  trea 
tise  which  Martensen  has  yet  to  develope  ;  and  it  rejoices 
me  all  the  more,  as  it  proves  that  the  laws  of  thought 
develope  themselves  in  the  human  race,  from  an  inner 
necessity,  irrespective  of  accidental  circumstances.  Truths, 
discoveries,  do  not  emigrate  from  one  country  to  another. 
Among  all  people  who  have  advanced  to  about  the  same 
degree  of  intellectual  cultivation  the  same  phenomena 
and  the  same  views  present  themselves.  Thus  here,  a 
young,  solitary,  retired,  but  profoundly  thinking  man 
arrived  at  the  same  train  of  thought  as  our  greatest  Scan 
dinavian  philosophical  theologians,  and  that  without 
knowing  them  or  the  fountains  from  which  they  have 
quaffed  the  new  life  of  thought.  One  instance  in  the 
book,  by  which  the  young  Miles  elucidates  the  connec 
tion  of  the  subjective  reason  with  the  objective — that  is 
of  man's  with  that  of  God,  has  struck  me  from  the  same 
cause — namely,  how  different  minds  in  far  distant  coun 
tries  and  under  different  circumstances  arrive  at  the  same 
results  of  thought ;  because  I  myself  have  frequently  made 
use  of  the  same  in  conversation,  as  proof  on  this  sub 
ject — and  have  always  regarded  it  as  my  own  discovery 
and  have  had  my  own  little  selfish  pleasure  in  so  doing. 
But  how  much  greater  is  my  pleasure  in  seeing  that 
it  also  flashes  forth  before  another  seeking  soul,  and 
becomes  for  him  a  guiding  star.  The  instance  I  alluded 
to  is  the  well-known  one  of  Le  Verrier,  who  calculated  that 
a  star  existed  in  a  certain  spot  of  the  universe,  and  of  the 
star  being  afterwards  discovered  there. 

I  must  immediately  write  to  Mrs.  H.,  to  express 
my  pleasure  in  the  book  and  its  author.  And  now  once 
more  I  hope  to  wander  with  her  in  the  shades  of  the 
myrtle  grove. 

Justina,   the  eldest   daughter  of  Mrs.  W.  H.,  is  just 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  889 

now  returned,  after  about  a  year's  residence  in  Baltimore, 
in  Maryland.  It  was  a  delight  to  me  to  see  her  joyful 
reception  at  home.  How  alike  are  all  good  homes  and 
relationships  !  The  same  sorrows,  the  same  joys  !  But 
that  I  have  long  known  even  without  seeing  it. 

There  is  here  this  evening  a  great  soiree  for  my  sake. 
I  am  very  glad  that  I  am  not  responsible  for  it.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  go  about,  tolerably  elegantly  attired, 
faire  la  belle  conversation,  reply  to  the  questions,  of  "  How 
do  you  like  this  ?  and  how  do  you  like  that  ? "  And  be 
amiable  according  to  my  ability. 

June  Wth. — Now,  my  sweet  child,  I  must  prepare 
this  letter,  which  is  even  now  too  long,  for  its  departure. 
I  have  enjoyed  myself  for  several  days  in  doing — nothing, 
watching  the  humming-birds,  fluttering  about  the  red 
flowers  of  the  garden,  or  looking  at  the  great  turkey 
buzzards,  sitting  on  the  roof  and  chimneys,  spreading  out 
their  large  wings  in  the  wind  or  the  sun,  which  gives  them 
a  very  strange  appearance  ;  and  for  the  rest  looking  about 
me  a  little  in  the  State  and  in  the  city. 

South  Carolina  is  a  State  of  much  more  aristocratic 
character,  as  well  in  law  as  social  life,  than  Georgia,  and 
has  not  the  element  of  freedom  and  humanity,  as  the 
fundamental  principle  of  its  life,  like  its  younger  sister 
State.  Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  the  old  dominions, 
the  two  oldest  mother  hives,  from  which  swarms  went 
forth  to  all  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  sent  also 
its  earliest  cultivators  to  South  Carolina.  Puritans  and 
Cavaliers  were  united,  but  that  merely  through  pecuniary 
interests.  The  Englishmen,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  John 
Locke,  established  here  an  aristocratic  community,  and 
negro  slaves  were  declared  to  be  the  absolute  property  of 
their  masters.  Nevertheless,  South  Carolina  lacks  not  in 
her  earliest  history  the  moment  which  made  her  a  member 
of  the  new  world,  and  which,  according  to  my  view,  was 
when  she  offered  a  sanctuary  and  a  new  home  to  the 


390  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

persecuted  children  of  the  old  world ;  yes,  when  she 
gave  to  all  persecuted,  oppressed,  or  unhappy  human 
beings,  the  opportunity  and  the  means  of  beginning 
anew,  a  new  life,  a  new  hope,  a  new  and  more  happy 
development. 

The  noble  Coligny,  in  France,  long  ago  cast  his  glance 
towards  South  Carolina  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
Huguenots.  And  when  persecution  broke  forth  in  all  its 
unbounded  ferocity,  they  who  could  save  themselves  fled 
hither  across  the  sea  to  the  land  which  rumour  had 
described  as  the  pride  and  envy  of  North  America,  and 
where,  throughout  the  year,  every  month  had  its  own 
flowers — which  last  is  perfectly  true. 

"  We  quitted  home  by  night,  leaving  the  soldiers  in 
their  beds,  and  abandoning  the  house  with  its  furniture," 
says  Judith,  the  young  wife  of  Pierre  Manigault.  "  "We 
contrived  to  hide  ourselves  for  ten  days  at  Eomans,  in 
Dauphigny,  while  a  search  was  made  for  us;  but  our 
faithful  hostess  would  not  betray  us.  After  our  arrival 
in  Carolina  we  suffered  every  kind  of  evil.  In  eighteen 
months  my  eldest  brother,  unaccustomed  to  the  hard 
labour  which  we  were  obliged  to  undergo,  died  of  a  fever. 
Since  leaving  France  we  had  experienced  every  kind  of 
affliction,  disease,  pestilence,  famine,  poverty,  hard  labour. 
I  have  been  for  six  months  without  tasting  bread,  working 
the  ground  like  a  slave ;  and  I  have  passed  three  or  four 
years  without  having  it  when  I  wanted  it.  And  yet  God 
has  done  great  things  for  us,  in  enabling  us  to  bear  up 
under  so  many  trials." 

The  son  of  Judith  Manigault,  who  became  an  affluent 
man,  entrusted  the  whole  of  his  large  propert}^  during 
the  war  of  American  Independence,  "  for  the  use  of  the 
country  which  had  adopted  his  mother."  From  Languedoc, 
from  Eochelle,  from  Saintange,  from  Bourdeaux,  and  from 
many  other  French  towns  and  provinces,  fled  the  perse 
cuted  families  who  "had  all  the  virtues  of  Puritans, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  391 

without  their  bigotry,  to  Carolina."  Assignments  of  land 
were  made  to  them  on  the  flowery  and  peaceful  banks  of 
the  river  Cooper,  beneath  the  shade  of  the  glorious 
primeval  forest,  whence  they  could  lift  their  voices  in 
hymns  of  praise  to  their  God.  Thus  became  South 
Carolina  the  asylum  of  the  French  puritans,  and  thus  it 
takes  its  place  in  that  great  asylum  for  all  people  which 
the  new  world  offers  at  this  day. 

And  still  to  this  day  is  Carolina,  and  most  of  the 
southern  provinces,  full  of  families,  descended  from  these 
oldest  settlers,  but  who  have  little  more  in  common  with 
them  than  the  name.  Language,  manners,  memories  have 
become  obliterated  under  the  influence  of  the  legislative, 
amalgamating  race  of  the  new  world.  Yet,  nevertheless, 
somewhat  of  the  French  mode,  of  the  French  tone  of 
mind,  exists  still  in  the  life  and  temperament  of  the 
southern  people. 

In  South  Carolina  the  spirit  and  the  links  of  social 
life  are  aristocratic  to  a  degree  which  I  cannot  approve 
of,  however  much  I  may  like  certain  people  there.  And 
aristocracy  there  has  this  in  common  with  aristocracies 
of  the  present  time  ;  that,  while  the  aristocratic  virtues 
and  greatness  have  vanished,  the  pretension  merely 
remains.  The  formerly  rich,  magnificent  planters  exist  no 
longer.  Wealth,  power,  munificent  hospitality  are  all 
gone.  And,  bowed  beneath  the  yoke  of  slavery,  the 
Southern  States  are  a  long  way  behind  those  of  the 
North,  in  their  rapid  development,  in  prosperity  and 
population.  The  emigration  of  the  present  day  is  also 
beginning  to  bring  in  its  manufactories  and  mechanical 
art,  even  into  the  Southern  States,  but  much  more 
into  Georgia  than  Carolina.  Yet  even  here  has  a  man 
from  New  England,  Mr.  Gregg,  lately  established  a 
cotton  manufactory,  similar  to  that  of  Lowell,  laid  out 
beautifully  with  garden-plots  for  the  work-people.  Far 
b  ehind  the  Northern  States  stand  the  South  in  any  case, 


392  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

as  regards  moral  and  intellectual  culture,  and  this  in 
consequence  of  the  unhappy  slave -institution  with  all  its 
consequences — both  to  the  black  and  the  white  population. 
There  are  great  individuals  in  the  Southern  States,  but 
no  great  community,  no  united,  aspiring  people.  The 
fetters  of  slavery  bind,  more  or  less,  all  and  every  one. 
Yet  I  love  the  South.  I  have  found  there  many  things  to 
love;  many  things  to  esteem;  many  things  to  enjoy; 
many  things  to  be  grateful  for ;  and  as  it  is  natural  to  me 
to  enter  into  the  life  amid  which  I  am  living  or  observing, 
I  have  in  the  South  felt  myself  to  have  a  southern 
tendency,  and  having  entered  into  the  peculiar  life  of 
the  South,  its  circumstances  and  position,  having  a  living 
sense  of  the  good  which  abundantly  exists  here;  which 
here  is  in  operation;  I  have  perfectly  understood  that 
bitter  feeling  which  ferments,  even  in  noble  minds, 
towards  the  despotic  and  unreasonable  North,  against 
that  portion  of  the  North  which  is  so  opposed  to  the 
South  ;  against  the  ultra-abolitionists  and  their  violence. 
It  is  merely  when  I  oppose  them  to  the  ultra  of  the 
pro-slavery  party — that  I  hold  with  the  former.  But 
what  would  I  not  give  if  the  South,  the  true,  the  noble 
South,  would  itself  take  the  subject  of  contention  in  hand, 
and  silence  the  mouth  of  their  opponents,  silence  their 
blame  both  just  and  unjust,  in  a  great  and  noble  way, 
by  laws  which  would  bring  about  a  gradual  emancipation, 
by  one  law,  at  least,  which  should  allow  the  slaves  to  pur 
chase  their  owrn  freedom,  and  that  of  their  families,  at  a 
reasonable  price,  a  price  which  should  be  established  bylaw. 
This,  it  seems  to  me,  might  be  required  from  the  Southern 
States,  as  an  act  of  justice  to  themselves,  to  their  native 
land — so  far  as  they  desire  to  have  part  in  its  proud 
charter  of  liberty,  and  that  they  do  desire — as  an  act  of 
justice  to  their  posterity,  to  the  people  whom  they  have 
enslaved,  and  for  whom  they  thereby  would  open  a  future, 
first  by  means  of  hope,  by  a  noble  object  for  which  to 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  393 

strive,  and  then  a  new  existence  in  a  life  of  freedom, 
either  in  Africa,  or  here  in  their  adopted  country  as  the 
free  servants  or  labourers  of  the  whites.  For  I  confess, 
that,  according  to  my  opinion,  the  Southern  States  would 
lose  a  great  part  of  their  charm  and  their  peculiar 
character  in  losing  their  black  population.  Bananas, 
negroes,  and  negro-songs  are  the  greatest  refreshments 
of  the  mind,  according  to  my  experience,  which  I  found 
in  the  United  States.  And  to  every  one,  whether  in  Old 
or  New  England,  who  is  troubled  by  spleen  or  dyspepsia, 
or  over- excitement  of  brain  or  nerves,  would  I  recommend 
as  a  radical  cure,  a  journey  to  the  South  to  eat  bananas, 
to  see  the  negroes,  and  hear  their  songs.  It  will  do  them 
good  to  go  through  the  primeval  forest,  with  its  flowers, 
and  its  odours,  and  to  sail  upon  the  red  rivers  !  But  the 
negroes  are  preferable  to  everything  else.  They  are  the 
life  and  the  good  humour  of  the  South.  The  more  I  see 
of  this  people,  their  manners,  their  disposition,  wray  of 
talking,  of  acting,  of  moving,  the  more  am  I  convinced 
that  they  are  a  distinct  stock  in  the  great  human  family, 
and  are  intended  to  present  a  distinct  physiognomy,  a 
distinct  form  of  the  old  type,  man,  and  this  physiognomy 
is  the  result  of  temperament. 

Last  evening  I  went  with  Mrs.  W.  H.  to  a  place  in 
the  city,  where  the  negroes,  who  come  during  the  day  to 
Charleston  from  the  plantations  to  sell  their  small  wares, 
baskets,  woven  mats,  and  such-like,  as  well  as  garden 
produce,  lie-to  with  their  boats.  It  was  now  evening, 
and  the  negroes  were  returning  to  their  boats  to  row 
back  up  the  river  ;  they  came  with  bundles  in  their  hands, 
jugs  on  their  heads,  and  all  sorts  of  vessels  filled  with 
things  which  they  had  purchased  with  the  product  of 
their  wares,  wheaten  bread  and  molasses  being  apparently 
the  principal  articles.  Already  were  two  boats  filled  with 
people,  and  baskets,  and  jugs,  amidst  the  merriest  chatter 
and  laughter  ;  but  still  they  waited  for  more,  and  I  heard 


394  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Adam,  and  Aaron,  and  Sally,  and  Mehala,  and  Lucy,  and 
Abraham,  and  Sarah,  called  for !  We,  in  the  meantime, 
fell  into  discourse  with  the  negroes,  who  stood  on  the 
shore,  asking  them  to  whom  they  belonged ;  whether  they 
were  well  off,  and  so  on.  Two  of  those  with  whom  we 
spoke  could  not  sufficiently  praise  their  masters,  and 
told  all  that  they  had  given  them ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
spoke  ill  of  a  planter  in  the  neighbourhood. 

"  I  fancy  you  are  talking  against  my  master !  "  said  a 
young  negro,  somewhat  tartly,  who  came  forward  with 
a  threatening  gesture  ;  on  which  the  others  immediately 
recalled  their  words.  "  No,  heaven  forbid  !  They  had 
said  nothing,  only  that  their  masters — "  But  again  they 
were  interrupted  by  the  champion  of  the  censured  master, 
who  maintained  that  his  master  was  not  worse  than 
theirs,  and  so  on.  And  now  a  great  cry  was  sent  forth  for 
Sally,  and  Nelly,  and  Adam,  and  Abraham,  and  Aaron  ! 
And  directly  Nelly,  and  Sally,  and  Abraham,  and  Adam, 
and  Aaron,  and  I  do  not  know  how  many  other  of  Adam's 
captive  sons  and  daughters,  came  running  along  with  jugs, 
and  baskets,  and  bottles  towards  the  shore,  and  then 
down  into  the  boats,  amid  loud  shouting,  and  talking,  and 
laughter ;  and  how  they  all  got  into  the  boats,  men  and 
molasses,  women  and  jugs,  and  baskets  and  bottles, 
helter-skelter,  rolling  and  tumbling,  without  method  or 
measure,  rhyme  or  reason,  which  I  could  discover,  is 
more  than  I  can  tell !  I  only  could  stare  at  it  in 
astonishment.  It  was  like  a  confused  mass  of  arms  and 
legs  and  heads  in  one  black  movement ;  but  merry  was  it, 
and  all  went  on  good-humouredly ;  and  good-humouredly 
they  went  off.  And  all  the  black  mass  was  quiet,  and  then 
the  boats  put  off  from  the  shore  with  little  zigzags,  and 
talk  and  laughter  was  heard  from  one  boat  to  the  other, 
and  white  teeth  shone  out  in  the  dark.  When,  however, 
they  had  got  out  in  the  river,  and  the  oars  kept  time 
on  the  mirror-bright  waters,  they  began  to  sing,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  395 

the  chaotic  confusion  dissolved  itself  in  the  most  beautiful 
harmony. 

One  peculiarity  in  these  so-called  children  of  nature  is 
their  aristocratic  tendency ;  but  I  have  always  regarded 
the  children  of  nature  as  natural  aristocrats.  They  pride 
themselves  on  belonging  to  rich  masters,  and  consider  a 
marriage  with  the  servant  of  a  poor  master  as  a  great 
misalliance.  They  look  up  to  their  rich  masters,  as  an 
Oriental  Grefac  of  the  old  race,  upon  his  ancestors.  That 
which  beyond  everything  else  is  an  impediment  to  the 
emancipation  of  this  people,  and  in  great  masses,  is  their 
want  of  nationality,  their  want  of  popular  spirit,  and  a 
general  unity  of  feeling.  They  have  merely  a  feeling  for 
family  or  for  kindred,  and  perhaps  for  the  tribe,  where 
the  tribes  still  continue  unbroken,  as  in  Africa.  They 
have  no  common  memories,  and  no  common  object  of  lofty, 
popular  aspiration.  The  tribes  and  small  principalities  of 
Africa  prove  this  also.  And  to  imagine  that  the  eman 
cipated  slaves  of  America  could,  beyond  the  sea,  in 
Liberia,  in  Africa,  establish  a  community  according  to 
the  American  republic,  is,  I  believe,  a  mistake.  Small 
monarchical  communities  are,  however,  that  which  they 
appear  to  me  formed  for.  They  feel,  in  a  high  degree, 
the  sentiment  of  piety  and  loyalty,  and  would  always  be 
easily  governed,  and  would  like  to  be  governed  by  a 
naturally  superior  person.  I  see,  therefore,  the  ideal  of 
negro-life  in  small  communities,  ennobled  by  Christianity, 
arranging  itself  round  a  superior — their  priest  or  king,  or 
both  in  one  person.  And  in  America  I  see  them  thus  by 
preference  around  a  white  man,  either  as  his  free  servants 
or  small  tenants,  convinced  that  as  a  means  of  leading  the 
people  to  order  and  reasonable  industry  the  slaves'  fetters 
and  the  whip  are  not  needed,  but  merely  Christian, 
human  instruction,  which  leads  to  industry  and  order; 
the  preaching  of  Christianity,  and  that  great  influence 
which  a  man  of  the  white  race,  by  his  natural  intellectual 


396  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

superiority,  and  systematic  turn  of  mind,  will  always  have 
over  the  black.  And  if  he  would  add  to  this  in  the  scale, 
a  moral  superiority  also,  he  would  become  very  powerful. 
To  the  white  gentlemen  of  the  South  may  he  applied  the 
words  which  Victor  Hugo  addressed  to  the  monarchs  of 
Europe — 

"  Oh  rois  !  soyez  grands,  car  le  peuple  grandit  !  " 

The  slave  population  of  the  South  is  increasing  every 
day  in  numbers,  in  intelligence;  is  becoming  more  intel 
ligent  through  the  influence  of  the  free  blacks  and  the 
mulattoes,  who  are  daily  increasing  in  the  slave  states, 
and  who  participate  in  the  educational  advantages  of  the 
whites.  In  a  word,  the  black  race  is  in  a  state  of  growth, 
in  every  way,  in  the  Southern  States.  May  the  white 
race  be  wise  enough  to  grow  also,  in  spirit,  in  lawrs,  in 
life  !  It  has  a  great  problem  to  solve.  But  I  have  hopes 
from  the  noble  South,  from  the  children  of  the  light, 
from  the  truly  emancipated  in  the  slave  states.  They 
will  bring  the  right  thing  about. 

And  that  would  not  be  difficult,  if  the  women  would  but 
awake.  But,  ah !  the  greater  number  here  sleep  still — 
sleep  still  on  soft  couches,  fanned  by  their  slaves,  not  as 
free  women.  Man  has  so  long  talked  to  woman  about 
her  listening  to  the  small  voice,  and  that  is  good ;  but  it 
is  now  time  that  she  should  listen  to  the  great  voice,  to 
the  voice  of  God's  spirit  in  the  human  race,  which  sounds 
over  the  whole  earth,  and  vibrates  through  all  free 
nations.  Of  a  truth,  it  is  time  ! — time  that  she  listened 
to  it,  that  she  became  magnanimous  in  heart  and  in 
thought.  "  If  the  mothers  became  noble-minded,  would 
not  the  sons  be  noble  ? "  said  one  of  America's  noble 
women  ;  and  history  replies  "Yes  !  " 

As  regards  the  slave-owners,  I  may  divide  them  into 
three  classes:  mammon-worshippers,  patriarchs,  and 
heroes,  or  men  of  progress.  The  first  regard  the  slaves 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  397 

merely  from  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  and  use  or 
misuse  them  at  pleasure.  The  second  consider  them 
selves  responsible  for  their  office;  consider  that  they 
cannot,  and  ought  not  to,  surrender  the  property  which 
they  have  inherited  from  their  fathers,  and  which  perhaps 
is  all  that  they  possess,  for  themselves  and  their  children ; 
and  they  regard  it  as  an  imperative  duty  to  preserve 
these  inherited  servants,  to  provide  for  their  old  age,  and 
to  make  their  present  life  as  happy  as  possible,  by  means 
of  instruction  and  Christianity,  and  to  allow  them  as 
much  freedom  and  as  much  innocent  pleasure  as  possible. 
The  third,  highest  class,  advances  the  well-being  of  the 
slave,  with  reference  to  their  emancipation ;  and  this  is 
done  by  means  of  education,  and  such  practical  aids. 
They  advance  both  people  and  country  on  the  path  of 
human  cultivation.  I  have  heard  mention  made  of  some 
persons  even  in  Carolina  as  belonging  to  this  latter  class, 
and  in  particular  of  two  wealthy  ladies  who  have  lately 
liberated  their  slaves.  This  is  forbidden  by  the  law ;  but 
here  also  has  public  opinion  begun  to  go  a-head  of  law ; 
and  the  lawyers  themselves  aid  by  passing  statutes  to  this 
end,  and  when  they  are  reproached  with  this,  they  laugh, 
and  seem  untroubled  by  conscience. 

I  have  heard  some  very  beautiful  traits  of  the  patriarchs 
as  well  as  of  their  slaves,  and  of  the  devotion  on  both 
sides.  I  believe  them,  because  I  have  seen  various 
instances  of  the  kind,  and  they  appear  to  me  very  natural. 
There  is,  upon  the  whole,  no  human  being  for  whom 
I  have  a  greater  esteem  and  sympathy  than  the  good 
and  conscientious  slaveholder,  for  his  position  is  one  of 
difficulty,  and  full  of  trouble. 

By  this  assertion  however  I  stand,  that  the  institution 
of  slavery  degrades  the  white  man  still  more  than  the 
black  ;  it  operates  prejudicially  on  his  development — on 
his  justice— on  his  judgment ;  it  operates  prejudicially, 
in  an  especial  manner,  on  the  education  of  his  children, 


398  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  that  subjection  of  their  naturally  violent  tempers, 
which  is  so  important  in  their  earlier  years.  Private  as 
well  as  public  morals  suffer  therefrom.  But  enough, 
however, — and  perhaps  for  you,  too  much  of  this  shadow- 
side  of  the  State  which  is  beloved  by  the  sun. 

I  must  now  give   you  a  short   summary  of  my  late 
doings. 

I  believe  I  last  left  off  at  the  party  which  was  going  to 
be  given  in  the  house.  It  was  very  beautiful,  and  all  went 
on  well  and  very  charmingly  too.  Mrs.  Hammarskold 
(Emilie  Holmberg)  sang  very  sweetly ;  I  played  Swedish 
dances  ;  people  talked,  and  walked  about,  and  drank — tout 
comme  chez  nous.  I  saw  Mr.  Simms,  one  of  the  best 
poets  and  novelists  of  South  Carolina,  this  evening.  He 
is  an  enthusiast  for  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  south, 
and  that  pleased  me,  and  therein  we  agreed  very  well, — 
not  so  on  the  great  question ;  but  that  I  did  not  expect. 
I  could  embrace  a  young  man  who  is  able  to  look  at  this 
question  with  an  unprejudiced  ,and  truthfully  pure  glance 
— that  is,  if  he  would  permit  it.  I  saw  also  a  brother  of 
young  Miles,  who  said,  speaking  on  this  subject  to  me, 
"  the  world  is  against  us,  and  we  shall  be  overpowered  by 
voices  and  condemned  without  justice,  for  what  we  are, 
and  for  what  we  are  doing  on  behalf  of  our  servants."  I 
could  not  help  sympathising  with  him  in  this  respect. 
The  excitement  is  great  and  the  bitterness  is  strong  at 
this  moment  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States 
of  the  Union.  Many  voices  in  Carolina  are  raised  for 
separation  and  war. 

I  have  besides  been  to  a  great  entertainment  given  by 
the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Akin,  and  his  lovely 
wife.  There  was  very  beautiful  music,  and  for  the  rest, 
conversation  in  the  room,  or  out  under  the  piazzas,  in  the 
shade  of  blossoming  creepers,  the  clematis,  the  caprifolium, 
and  roses,  quite  romantic  in  the  soft  night  air.  Five 
hundred  persons,  it  is  said,  were  invited,  and  the  enter- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  399 

tainment  was  one  of  the   most  beautiful   I   have  been 
present  at  in  this  country. 

I  saw  many  lovely  young  daughters  of  the  south,  but  no 
great  beauty ;  on  the  contrary,  many  were  very  pale.  The 
ladies  here  universally  use  pearl-powder,  which  they  after 
wards  wipe  off,  and  hence  the  skin  has  a  sort  of  velvety,  soft 
colour,  for  the  moment,  but  the  complexion  only  becomes 
more  sallow  in  consequence.  I  am  told  that  the  great 
heat  renders  the  use  of  this  powder  necessary.  I  have 
nothing  exactly  against  it,  if  the  powder  be  only  rubbed 
quite  off  again,  but  that  is  often  only  very  imperfectly 
done.  I  fear  that  this  white  powdering  is  probably  an 
heirloom  of  the  old  French  ancestry. 

Yet  once  more  have  I  wandered  with  Mrs.  Holbrook 
in  the  myrtle  groves  of  Belmont,  and  enjoyed  with  her 
an  intellectual  feast.  I  have  also  seen  the  young  intelli 
gent  missionary,  Mr.  Miles ;  he  has  a  pale  expressive 
countenance,  a  deeply  penetrative  eye — but  ah!  it  has 
penetrated  no  more  deeply  to  the  heart  of  the  great 
question  than  most  other  eyes  here.  On  other  subjects 
I  have  been  delighted  with  the  free,  strong  flight  of  his 
spirit. 

I  was  invited  one  evening  with  Mrs.  H.  to  meet 
various  elderly  members  of  her  family.  I  met  on  this 
occasion  a  couple  of  old  unmarried  ladies,  the  owners  of 
two  beautiful  islands  on  the  coast  of  Carolina,  where  they 
live  alone,  among  three  hundred  negroes,  as  their  owners, 
their  advisers,  and  physicians;  and  in  all  cases  on  the 
best  understanding  with  them.  One  white  man  only  is 
on  the  plantation  as  overseer. 

I  regret  much  not  having  been  able  to  accept  an 
invitation,  at  least  at  this  time,  and  that  was  to  a  Mr. 
Spalding's,  a  rich  old  gentleman,  who,  upon  the  beautiful 
island  where  he  lives,  has  allowed  the  palmettos  to  grow 
in  freedom,  and  the  negroes  to  live  and  work  in  free 
dom  also,  governed  alone  by  the  law  of  duty  and  love — 


400  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  where  all  succeeds  excellently ;  and  all  this  have  I 
been  invited  to  see  by  this  noble  man.  May  he  live 
for  ever ! 

The  coasts,  both  of  Georgia  and  Carolina,  abound  in 
islands,  which  I  understand  are  beautiful  as  paradise,  and 
rich  in  vegetation.  The  finest  cotton  grows  on  them. 
Cotton  is  cultivated  on  the  hills  and  on  the  islands  of 
Georgia  and  Carolina;  rice  upon  the  lowlands.  Even 
Carolina  has  hills  and  mountains  abounding  in  metals, 
and  fresh,  clear  mountain  streams,  which  do  not  assume 
their  chocolate  hue  till  they  are  far  on  their  course. 

I  intended  to  have  made  my  journey  northwards 
through  the  highlands  of  Carolina,  and  thence  through 
Tennesee  and  Virginia, — because  I  must  of  necessity  see 
"  the  Old  Dominion,"  one  of  the  oldest  parent- states,  and 
the  native  land  of  Washington;  but  to  travel  through 
Tennesee  would  have  been  too  fatiguing  where  the  roads 
are  bad,  and  the  inns  are  bad — for  that  portion  of  the 
State  is  yet  in  its  infancy — so  that  I  did  not  dare  to 
undertake  the  journey  in  the  great  heat;  but  instead  shall 
return  by  the  sea,  beautifully  and  quietly  as  I  came.  On 
the  15th  inst.  therefore,  I  shall  go  on  board  the  steamer 
to  Philadelphia,  and  thence  to  Washington.  Until  then 
I  remain  quietly  here,  and  only  make  little  excursions  in 
the  city  and  its  neighbourhood. 

I  am  quite  well,  my  little  Heart,  thank  God  and 
homoeopathy,  and  unremitting  care  as  regards  diet,  and 
my  beloved  bananas !  Besides  this,  I  have  availed  myself 
of  sea-bathing  here,  and  though  I  bathe  in  a  swamp 
and  under  cover,  I  feel  that  it  is  good  for  me.  The 
Misses  A.,  two  wealthy  unmarried  sisters,  of  middle  age, 
have  had  the  kindness  to  lend  me  their  carriage  and 
horses  to  take  me  to  the  baths.  The  youngest  of  these 
ladies  generally  accompanies  rne.  The  coachman  and 
the  horses  are  faithful  old  servants  of  the  family,  and  we 
are  obliged  to  be  driven  as  they  will,  and  that  is  not 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  401 

rapidly.     The  other  morning  the  following  conversation 
occurred  between  the  slave  and  his  mistress. 

She. — "  Dear  Richard,  don't  drive  us  down street ; 

it  is  so  long  and  so  sandy,  we  shall  never  get  along.     Do 
you  hear,  Richard  ?  " 

He. — "  Yes,  I  will  drive  that  way,  missis." 

She. — "  Ah,  dear  Richard,  can't  you  drive  another  ;  for 

instance,  along street  ?  " 

He. — "  No,  missis.     I  have  something  to  get  in  • 

street." 

She. — "  Ah,  dear  Richard,  cannot  I  avoid  going  there  ?  " 
He. — "  No,  missis.     I  want  to  go  there,  missis." 
And  spite  of  renewed  prayers,  his  mistress  was  obliged 
to  yield,  and  we  were  driven  the  way  which  the  obstinate 
Richard  chose.      These  faithful   old   servants  are  more 
obstinate  than  ours,  but  then  their  eyes  beam  with  a 
something  so  kind,  with  such  a  cordial  life  that  one  cannot 
help  letting  them  have  their  way  sometimes.    They  desire 
all  for  the  good  of  the  family. 

Among  other  persons  here  who  have  shown  me  much 
kindness,  and  in  whose  society  I  have  had  pleasure,  is 
the  minister  of  the  Lutheran  church,  the  clever,  natural- 
historian,  Mr.  Bachman,  a  cheerful  and  agreeable  man, 
and  a  universal  favourite. 

The  master  of  the  house  where  I  am  staying,  Mr. 
AVilliam  Howland,  is  now  returned  home.  He  is  a 
man  of  refined,  gentlemanly  demeanour,  and  evidently  a 
kind  and  beloved  head  of  the  family;  one  who  seems 
particularly  to  enjoy  being  able  to  live,  now  for  a  time, 
quietly  at  home  with  his  family.  The  children  seem  to 
dance  in  the  evening  more  gaily  than  ever,  since  Justina 
is  at  home,  and  Justina  is  a  noble  young  girl,  well-grown 
and  with  a  noble  exterior,  but  too  pale  in  complexion. 
She  has  a  fine  talent  for  the  piano,  and  in  the  evening, 
when  the  dancing  is  over,  she  and  her  sister,  Illione,  sing 
to  the  piano  negro-songs,  which  amuse  their  father  as 

TOL.   I.  D    D 


402  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

much  as  they  amuse  me,  and  we  sit  under  the  piazza  in 
the  delicious  night  air  often  till  midnight. 

One  evening  which  I  spent  at  Mr.  G.'s,  I  was  present 
at  the  evening-worship  of  the  negroes,  in  a  hall  which 
that  good  right-thinking  minister  had  allowed  them  to 
use  for  that  purpose.  The  first  speaker,  an  old  negro, 
was  obliged  to  give  place  to  another,  who  said  he  was  so 
full  of  the  power  of  the  word,  that  he  could  not  possibly 
keep  silence,  and  he  poured  forth  of  his  eloquence  for  a 
good  hour,  but  said  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again. 
These  negro  preachers  were  far  inferior  to  those  which  I 
heard  in  Savannah. 

Finally  he  admonished  one  of  the  sisters  "  to  pray." 
On  this,  an  elderly,  sickly  woman  began  immediately  to 
pray  aloud,  and  her  evident  fervour  in  thanksgiving  for 
the  consolation  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  her  testimony 
on  behalf  of  its  powers,  in  her  own  long  and  suffering 
life,  was  really  affecting.  But  the  prayer  was  too  long ; 
the  same  thing  was  repeated  too  often,  with  an  incessant 
thumping  on  the  bench  with  her  fists,  as  an  accompani 
ment  to  every  groan  of  prayer.  At  the  close  of  this,  and 
when  another  sister  was  admonished  to  pray,  the  speaker 
added,  "  But  make  it  short,  if  you  please  !  " 

This  sister,  however,  did  not  make  it  short,  but  longer 
even  than  the  first,  with  still  more  circumlocution  and 
still  more  thumping  on  the  bench. 

A  third  sister,  who  was  admonished  to  pray,  received 
the  short,  definite  injunction,  "  But  short."  And,  when 
she  lost  herself  in  the  long  bewilderment  of  prayer,  she 
was  interrupted  without  ceremony  by  the  wordy  preacher, 
who  could  no  longer  keep  silence,  but  must  hear  him 
self  talk  on  for  another  good  hour.  Nor  was  it  until 
the  singing  of  one  of  the  hymns  composed  by  the  negroes 
themselves,  such  as  they  sing  in  their  canoes,  and  in 
which  the  name  "  Jerusalem  "  is  often  repeated,  that  the 
congregation  became  really  alive.  They  sang  so  that  it  was 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  403 

a  pleasure  to  hear,  with  all  their  souls  and  with  all 
their  bodies  in  unison.  For  their  bodies  wagged,  their 
heads  nodded,  their  feet  stamped,  their  knees  shook,  their 
elbows  and  their  hands  beat  time  to  the  tune  and  the 
words  which  they  sang  with  evident  delight.  One  must 
see  these  people  singing,  if  one  is  rightly  to  understand 
their  life.  I  have  seen  their  imitators,  the  so-called 
"  Sable  Singers,"  who  travel  about  the  country  painted  up 
as  negroes  and  singing  negro  songs  in  the  negro  manner, 
and  with  negro  gestures,  as  it  is  said :  but  nothing  can 
be  more  radically  unlike ;  for  the  most  essential  part  of 
the  resemblance  fails — namely,  the  life. 

One  of  my  pleasures  here  has  been  to  talk  with  an 
old  negro  called  Romeo,  who  lives  in  a  little  house  in 
a  garden  near,  and  which  said  garden  he  takes  care 
of,  or  rather  neglects,  according  to  his  pleasure.  He 
is  the  most  good-tempered,  merriest  old  man  that  anyone 
can  imagine,  and  he  has  a  good  deal  of  natural  wit. 
He  was,  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  stolen  from  Africa  and 
brought  hither,  and  he  tells  stories  about  that  event  in 
the  most  naive  manner.  I  asked  him  one  day,  what  the 
people  in  his  native  land  believed  respecting  life  after 
death  !  He  replied  "  that  the  good  would  go  to  the  God 
of  Heaven  who  made  them."  "  And  what  of  the  bad  ?  " 
asked  I.  "  They  go  out  into  the  wind,"  and  he  blew  with 
his  mouth  around  him  on  all  sides. 

I  got  him  to  sing  me  an  Ethiopian  death- song,  which 
seemed  to  consist  of  a  monotone  vibrating  upon  three  semi 
tones  ;  and  after  that  an  African  love-song,  which  seemed  to 
be  tolerably  rude,  and  which  convulsed  the  old  fellow  with 
laughter.  I  have  his  portrait  in  my  album,  but  he  laughed 
and  was  so  shame-faced  while  I  made  the  sketch,  that  it 
was  difficult  for  me  to  catch  the  likeness.  He  is  dressed 
in  his  slave  garments,  grey  clothes  and  knitted  woollen 
cap. 

The  negro  people  and  the  primeval  forest  have  made  a 


404  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

peculiarly  living  impression  upon  me,  and  have  extended 
my  vision  as  regards  the  richness  of  those  forms  in  which 
the  Creator  expresses  his  life.  The  earth  seems  to  me  as 
a  great  symbolic  writing,  a  grand  epic,  in  which  the  various 
species  of  man,  of  vegetable  productions  and  animals, 
water  and  land,  form  groups  of  separate  songs  and  para 
graphs  which  we  have  to  read,  and  from  which  to  learn 
the  style  of  the  Great  Master,  His  design,  and  His 
system.  My  soul,  in  this  view,  spreads  forth  her  wings 
and  flies — alas  !  only  in  spirit — around  the  whole  world ; 
across  the  deserts  and  the  paradise  of  Africa ;  across 
the  icy  tracts  of  Siberia ;  over  the  mountain  land  of  the 
Himalayas  —  everywhere  between  the  poles  and  the 
equator,  where  man  lives,  and  animals  breathe,  and 
vegetation  ascends  towards  the  light;  and  I  endeavour 
involuntarily,  to  groupe  and  arrange  the  dissimilar  forms 
into  harmonious  constellations,  around  one  central,  all- 
illuminating  Sun;  but all  is  yet  only  anticipation, 

glimpses,  flashes  of  light  into  my  soul — merely  the  dawn, 
the  morning  watch !  Perhaps  at  length  the  perfect  day 
may  appear ;  perhaps  in  the  native  land  of  runes,  in  my 
own  silent  home,  I  may  be  enabled  to  expound  these  runes 
of  the  earth,  and  that  runic  song  which  has  been  given 
me  to  ponder  upon. 

Of  the  mysteries  of  Charleston  I  shall  not  tell  you 
anything,  because  I  know  them  not,  excepting  by  rumour, 
and  that  which  I  know  merely  by  rumour  I  leave  untold. 
Dark  mysteries,  more  indeed  than  rumour  has  told, 
cannot  fail  in  a  great  city  in  which  slavery  abides.  I 
have  heard  it  said  that  there  is  a  flogging  institution  in 
Charleston  for  slaves,  which  brings  the  city  a  yearly 
revenue  of  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars.  Every  person 
who  wishes  to  have  his  slave  punished  by  the  whip  sends 
him  there  with  money  for  his  chastisement.  I  have  both 
heard  and  read  of  this  many  times,  and  I  believe  it  to  be 
true.  But  the  position  of  things  here  makes  it  difficult, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  405 

nay  next  to  impossible,  for  me  to  search  into  such 
things.  But  I  cannot  and  will  not  become  a  spy.  I 
receive  merely  that  which  comes  to  me  compulsively  by 
my  own  experience,  and  which  I  therefore  consider  as  a 
knowledge  by  higher  design,  as  a  something  which  I 
ought  to  know,  and  to  receive.  I  have  here  properly  to 
do  with  the  ideal,  and  to  seize  and  present  it  purely  and 
faithfully.  And  it  is  in  the  feeling  of  that  ideal  South,  as 
it  already  exists  in  some  degree,  and  as  it  some  time  may 
wholly  exist,  in  order  to  fulfil  the  design  of  the  Creator, 
that  I  now  bid  farewell  to  the  South,  with  both  admiration 
and  love — sorrowing  for  that  which  it  now  is  not,  and 
hoping  again  to  return. 

I  shall  write  you  no  more  from  this  place,  but  next 
from  one  of  the  Northern  States.  I  long  to  go  north 
ward  for  cooler  air  and  a  freer  people.  Here  one  is 
often  obliged  to  swallow  down  one's  innermost  thoughts 
and  be  silent,  if  one  would  avoid  either  wounding  others 
or  disputing  with  them.  And  this  heat — if  it  continues 
without  intermission,  as  it  is  likely  to  do  from  one 
month  to  another,  till  October — rather  would  I  dwell  at 
North  Cape,  and  be  lighted  by  fire -wood  three  parts  of 
the  year ! 

But,  notwithstanding,  farewell  thou  beautiful,  flowery 
South,  the  garden  of  North  America  !  Thou  hast  warmed 
and  refreshed  me  deliciously !  farewell  to  thy  piazzas 
covered  with  blossoming  creepers  shading  pale  beauties  ; 
farewell  fragrant  forests,  red-rivers  where  the  songs  of 
the  negro  resound ;  farewell,  kind,  beautiful,  amiable 
people,  friends  of  the  slave,  but  not  of  slavery  !  When  now 
in  spirit  I  look  back  to  the  South  I  shall  think  upon  you, 
and  through  you,  on  the  future  of  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
I  see  you,  then,  beneath  your  palmettos  or  your  magnolia 
and  orange  groves,  the  fruits  of  all  the  earth,  and 
beyond  all  the  tropical  bananas,  spread  out  before  you 
upon  your  hospitable  boards;  see  you  distribute  them, 


406  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

as  I  have  done  many  a  time,  to  the  stranger,  to  the  needy ; 
to  the  messengers  of  all  nations  !  I  see  around  you 
blacks  as  servants  and  friends.  They  are  free  and  you 
have  made  them  so.  They  sing  hymns  which  you  have 
taught  them,  joyful  songs  which  they  themselves  have 
made.  And  for  them,  and  for  you,  sing  the  hundred- 
tongued  birds  in  the  cool  live-oaks,  which  wave  their  long 
pendent  mosses,  whilst  above  them  and  you  beams  the 
mild,  blue  southern  heaven,  and  the  blessing  of  heaven  ! 
May  it  be  so  ! 

P.S.  Yes,  I  must  tell  you  about  one  of  the  mysteries 
of  Charleston,  because  I  have  often  seen  it  steal  hastily 
by  like  a  shadow  in  the  streets  and  alleys  there.  It 
appears  to  be  a  woman,  meanly  clad,  in  the  hues  of 
twilight.  She  is  called  Mrs.  Doctor  Susan,  for  she  is  the 
physician  and  helper  of  the  poor.  She  belongs  to  one  of 
the  higher  families  of  the  city,  but  having  made  a  false 
step  in  her  youth,  became  an  outcast  from  society,  which 
in  North  America  endures  much  secret  immorality,  but 
none  which  becomes  public.  It  might,  perhaps,  in  the 
course  of  years  have  forgiven,  and  again  admitted  the 
young  delinquent  to  its  circles,  but  she  no  longer  sought 
for  pardon  from  man.  She  turned  her  heart  and  her  eye 
to  one  much  higher.  She  became  the  servant  of  his 
poor  and  afflicted  people.  And  since  then  she  may  only 
be  met  with  among  them,  or  on  the  way  to  them.  That 
which  is  given  to  her,  either  of  money  or  of  clothing,  is 
applied  by  her  to  the  use  of  the  poor,  and  she  herself 
lives  in  voluntary  poverty. 

The  negroes  in  my  friend's  family  were,  at  one 
time,  so  ill  of  an  infectious  fever  that  every  one  fled 
from  them.  But  Doctor  Susan  came  and  tended  them, 
and  restored  them  to  health,  and  when  she  was  rewarded 
for  it  she  considered  her  reward  too  great.  Known 
throughout  the  whole  city,  she  goes  everywhere  in  her 
poor,  dark  attire,  like  a  messenger  of  consolation,  but 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  407 

always  rapidly,  silently,  and  as  if  fearful  of  being  seen. 
Like  the  fire -fly  it  is  only  in  the  dark  that  she  sends 
forth  her  clear  indwelling  light;  like  it  has  she  been 
trampled  upon  by  mankind,  and  she  yet  gives  forth  light. 
Farewell  dear  heart !  Greet  those  you  know  and  wish 

it  from  your 

FREDRIKA. 


END   OF   VOL.  I. 


LONDON : 
BRADBURY  AND  EVANS,    PRINTERS,  WHITEFRIARS. 


' 


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SSW04.4698 


4  days  prior  to  due  date 


LIBRARY   OF   THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 


YB  55386 


SITY   OF   C   LIFORJtM          L 

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